“Why did you decide to run for president?”
That’s the first question ABC News’ Linsey Davis put to Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose bid to challenge President Joe Biden for the party’s nomination has already attracted the interest of some 20 percent of primary voters.
“My party is becoming the party of war, the party of censorship, the party of fear… and I felt like I had a unique opportunity to change that,” Kennedy answered. (My italics.)
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That one sentence really sums up the ethos of Kennedy’s campaign so far. He’s running as an outsider and promising to take on corruption, while railing against overzealous government agencies like the FBI and the heavy-handed governmental response to COVID-19. So, it’s hardly surprising to see Kennedy earning praise from prominent free market libertarians, conservatives, progressives, and civil libertarians.
But there’s one big problem. While Kennedy is undoubtedly saying some things that resonate about free speech and government overreach, he has no actual credibility on these issues—because, as Matt Welch first pointed out in a fantastic piece for Reason, he has a long track record of advocating for unhinged and brazen acts of censorship.
For example, in a 2014 interview with Climate Depot, Kennedy (who has been a prominent and influential left-wing environmental activist for decades), accused the Koch brothers of “treason” for supposedly denying the issue of climate change. (Treason, you might remember, is a crime punishable by death!)
“They are enjoying making themselves billionaires by impoverishing the rest of us. Do I think they should be in jail? I think they should be enjoying three hots and a cot at the Hague with all the other war criminals,” Kennedy declared. “Do I think the Koch brothers should be tried for reckless endangerment? Absolutely, that is a criminal offense and they ought to be serving time for it.”
He even lamented the fact that politicians who deny climate change couldn’t be jailed, saying, “They are contemptible human beings. I wish there were a law you could punish them with.” That’s right: Kennedy actually thinks philanthropic activists and politicians with which he disagrees ought to be jailed for “war crimes.”
Disagree with people all you want. You can even think their views are vile and evil. But once you start calling to lock them up over your disagreements, a free speech hero you are not.
Furthermore, Kennedy wants to target CEOs for imprisonment and punitively revoke the corporate/nonprofit status of businesses and organizations that advocate ideas he thinks are wrong. For example, he’s said that coal companies are “criminal enterprises” and called for state attorneys general to “annul the charters” of “mercenary merchants of deceit” like ExxonMobil.
What’s more, Kennedy has publicly listed the ideological nonprofits who he thinks the government should bankrupt (by revoking their nonprofit status), as a retaliatory consequence of their espousals of ideas and views with which he disagrees.
These include (in Kennedy’s listing): “The Cato Institute, The Heritage Foundation, Cooler Heads Coalition, Global Climate Coalition, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Americans for Prosperity, Heartland Institute, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), George C. Marshall Institute, State Policy Network, Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and American Enterprise Institute (AEI).” (Disclosure: I have been employed at several nonprofits that receive donations from the Koch network, although none that are listed here. I have done a small amount of freelance work for Americans for Prosperity in the past).
Even if one is somehow not bothered by his long history of promoting conspiracy theories and other unhinged views, all of this thoroughly disqualifies RFK Jr. as any sort of free speech champion.
The ultimate test of free speech is whether you support it even for your enemies. RFK Jr. has failed that test, again and again, throughout his entire career. To imagine how someone with his record might weaponize the full power of the federal government is truly chilling.
Still, the fact that RFK Jr.’s campaign is receiving so much interest, while certainly bolstered by his famous name recognition alone, does suggest that even Democrats aren’t satisfied with President Biden. Indeed, polling from NBC News shows that even 51 percent of Democrats don’t want Biden to run for president again.
But if Democrats are going to flock to an alternative candidate, it should probably be one with basic respect for free speech and the First Amendment—not a wanna-be authoritarian who’s willing to trample on the Constitution when it suits his agenda.
