Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. addressed a Philadelphia rally of perhaps 2,000 enthusiastic Democrats, Republicans and non-party Americans today and announced that he was declaring himself an independent candidate for President of the United States—leaving the Democratic Party through which his family became a national political dynasty, and in which he has been polling 20% or more of likely primary voters.
The impoverishment and even despair of so many Americans was the target and problem passionately delineated by Kennedy, who very seriously wants to solve it; of foreign policy he spoke more sparingly in this address. He spoke often of his father’s compassion, to tears, for poor and forgotten Americans. He said: “Today, as corrupt powers have overtaken our government, the ranks of the dispossessed have swelled beyond indigenous and Black people to include tens of millions of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck in financial desperation. The dispossessed also include the legions of the chronically ill, the addicted, the depressed, and the 80% of the country that can no longer afford a normal middle-class lifestyle.
“A rising tide of discontent is swamping our country.
“There is danger in this discontent, yet there is also promise.
“The danger is that demagogues will hijack it toward fascism. Or, that our rulers will divert it onto an external enemy to start yet another war.
“But the biggest danger, which we’ve seen unfold in real-time, is that we will direct our discontent at each other.”
And again, the problem to be attacked: “This country sits atop a bubbling cauldron of fury. Americans are angry....”
The candidate said that he took “inspiration from the one other President who was not a member of a political party. That President was George Washington.” Kennedy saw Americans “fed up with being fooled, and they are ready to take back their power.” He said, “Because I am independent of the military contractors, I will be able to pursue a foreign policy of peace and diplomacy” and “Because I am independent of Wall Street, I will be able to rescue debtors instead of banks.” “Is it right, or left to pull back from the brink of hot war with Russia?”
Closing, Kennedy said: “Democracy does not come as a gift when oppressive authorities finally relent. Democracy comes when the people choose to exercise their power.”
Here is the transcript of RFK’s speech as prepared.
