RFK Jr. on America's Devolution and the Fight for Freedom

RFK Jr. on America's Devolution and the Fight for Freedom

Well, I talked to you a moment ago about what I see as a devolution of American democracy and how it's turning into something that is, that is, I would describe as a totalitarian system and that I see because of what I've been doing for 20 years working on chronic disease issues. And what I did for 20 years before that working on environmental issues, I see how these powers, these economic aggregations can commoditize everything. If they commoditize the water, they commoditize, they steal it from the public; they turn it in. When General Electric dumped PCBs in the Hudson, it was privatizing all the fish in the Hudson and turning them into its own private property. And they privatize our landscapes, the Purple Mountain's majesty.

And when I started fighting on public health issues, I saw how they're privatizing our children. They're literally stealing their health. We have in this country now the sickest children in the world. We have the highest chronic disease burden of any nation on earth. When my uncle was president, we were spending, we had 6% of Americans had chronic disease. Today, almost 60% do. And when my uncle was president, I was a boy. We spend zero on chronic disease in this country. Today, we spend $4.3 trillion, and that money is going upward into the pockets of certain people, and mainly it's the pharmaceutical industry.

The most valuable asset in America today is a sick child. Because if you can get a child sick when they're very young and get them dependent on Ozempic, and Adderall, and insulin, and seizure medication, you have now a client for life that is spending, is generating thousands of dollars potentially a week in revenue for these interests.

And so I see how they're commoditizing everything. They're stealing everything we value. And ultimately, that comes from them being able to overrun our constitutional rights. And I saw it during COVID. I saw the whole thing in miniature, you know, compressed time, exactly what they're up to. And I remember in 2020 in August, I was in Berlin. I was giving a speech to 1.3 million people who had come from all over Europe, it was like Woodstock, but for political freedom, because they saw what was happening with these mandates. It came from every nation in Europe to protest them, and I was, I gave a speech.

I ran into an NBC film crew there, and they were all wearing masks. And they said to me, why aren't you wearing a mask, you're in this big crowd, shaking hands, aren't you scared of dying? And I said, "There's things that scare me a lot more than dying." And they said, "Like what?" And I said, "Like losing my constitutional rights. Like having... like having my children grow up in an America where they cannot speak freely and criticize their political leaders. And I, we had a whole generation in 1776 of people, of men and women, who gave their fortunes, they gave their property, they gave their status and their lives to giving us this constitution, to giving us this incredible gift, and we became the template for the rest of the world.

In 1776, we were the only democracy on earth. By 1865, there were five. By the time my uncle was president, there were about 130, and by the end of the 1960s, there were 190 all based on the American model. So, we truly were the exemplary democracy. We were the hope, the light for the whole world.

You know, today we've lost our, we've lost our role as a model. Nobody wants the system we have. We're no longer a moral authority. We've eroded this through this dynamic. And, you know, I don't want that for my children. I want my children to grow up with the hope, with the love for this country that I had.

I'll say one other thing. In 2013, there was a poll where they asked young Americans under the age of 35, are you proud to be an American? 85% said yes. The same poll taken six months ago, 17% said yes. We have a whole generation that's lost their pride in being an American citizen, and they've lost hope for their own futures. And we had a generation in 1776, 20,000 of them died, a huge number, it would be like a million people today. That gave us our constitution. And then, you know, they said to us that every generation must water the tree of liberty with its own blood if you're going to hold on to this.

It's not something that I want to do. I have a really good life, and I had a great family that loved me. I still have a nuclear family that loves me but... And I have a big family now too. But I, you know, I really I didn't feel like I had a choice. I felt like I have to do this the same reason people left their homes in 1776 to do something for an idea, and I want to keep that idea for my kids.

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