Why RFK, Jr should not leave the Democratic Party…yet

By Anne Keala Kelly

Pressure for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to run as a third-party candidate for the presidency is growing. The more obvious DNC corruption becomes, the more Kennedy supporters, weary of three decades of Democratic Party betrayals, call for him to leave the party and run as an independent. Or Libertarian. Or Martian. Anything but Democrat. And who could blame them?

One of Kennedy’s most compelling characteristics is the ferocity with which he speaks out in public about the divisive culture of electoral politics today and the elitist mentality dominating the DNC. He inspires both the institutional ire of politicians who maintain the status quo, and the hope of Americans who believe their votes should matter as much in the primary election as in the general. And he does this while opposing a proxy war in Ukraine and the bloated military spending that has established an American Empire of 800 overseas bases and installations.

The family he was born into and grew up with isn’t mythical to him, the way it is to most of us. Kennedy was diapered in Democratic Party blue. And his political sensibilities were undeniably shaped by the fact that his father and uncle were murdered for their politics. They were Democratic leaders during a seismic moment in the nation’s history, when centuries’ old traditions of white supremacy, patriarchy and colonization were being challenged in the streets and universities. It was an era marked by a generational shift in values and a redefinition of justice, a word we don’t hear much in today’s political discourse, which may explain its absence in the everyday lives of millions of Americans.

In some ways, the present has a lot in common with the 1960s. Russians are still (supposedly) as evil as ever, there’s still a space race—although it’s owned and operated by billionaires, and the government is still pouring taxpayer money into the war machine. And a Kennedy has stepped up to the plate. He doesn’t swing at pitches in the dirt, and tends to hit the ball where he wants it to go. Maybe he means what he’s saying so sincerely that he won’t even contemplate striking out.

In other ways, however, things are worse now than in the 60s. Poverty of that time was confined to inner cities and rural communities, but now it’s undeniable and visible in and around most major urban areas. About 600,000 people are living in their cars or in tents, or under tarps and freeway overpasses, and 60 percent of working Americans are living paycheck to paycheck in the country that thinks of itself as better than every other nation on earth. These are just some of the consequences of the worst neoliberal policies enacted during the Clinton administration (repeal of Glass-Steagall, Welfare Reform) that protect the wealthy and penalize the poor, and laid the groundwork for the gig economy born during the Obama era. In fact, it was Clinton’s Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin, who urged him to support GOP banking deregulation.

It has since become increasingly difficult to tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans, and nowhere is that more evident than among those who control and/or defend the lousy decisions of the DNC. One could easily mistake that organization for a rightwing conservative group of good ole boys (and some gals!) who behave like bullies when their authority is challenged. They wield power over registered Democrats with impunity and condescension like a narcissistic monarch, who doesn’t respect the people he rules and claims proprietary rights over them. And as far as the DNC is concerned, that includes our votes and the Kennedy brand.

For more than 50 years, the name “Kennedy” has been synonymous with two things: American royalty and the Democratic Party. When Democrats want to demonstrate party and national unity (think Obama campaign) they center our attention on a few Kennedys to blanket the nation with feelings of nostalgia for the days of America’s Camelot. The DNC version of a Kennedy is non-threatening, decorative, peripheral.  

Yet, neither John F. Kennedy nor Robert F. Kennedy were any of those things. They were hands on, deeply involved and accountable. They were fighters. 

So is this Kennedy. 

But he has lived longer than they did and has more experience.. He shares their values and that of the Democratic Party, of which they were leaders. His other uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy, was a stalwart for Democratic Party values, too, referring to his vote against the invasion of Iraq as the best vote he ever cast in his 44 years as a senator. He was an old-school Democratic. So is his nephew.

Yet, even though Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s political positions are not much (if any) different from those of his father, he’s treated with derision by the party that exercises a kind of political and social ownership over his name. 

If either of MLK’s sons were to speak critically about NAACP policies or take a leadership role at that or any other institution associated with their father’s good name or accomplishments, who would be offended? But according to the DNC and every news agency that feeds off divisive issues and politics, this Kennedy stepping into the Democratic Party batter’s box is an abomination. He is such a threat to their power that they are rearranging the order of primaries and changing the rules about whose primary vote will actually be counted. Talk about hubris.  

In this milieu of deceit and corruption, it is understandable why Kennedy’s supporters want him to leave the party. Clearly, this Democratic Party’s leadership is not evocative of the one his father or uncles proudly represented when they were senators, or attorney general, or president.

But there are a few good reasons for him to stay (for now), not least of which is that telling him to leave the party is like telling him to get out of his own house. 

Also, being a Democratic candidate has some degree of institutional validation, even as Joe Biden refuses him the Secret Service protection he has asked for, for obvious reasons. Everyone should stop pretending that what happened two weeks ago in Los Angeles wasn’t alarming.

The more Biden & Co. treat this Kennedy like the unwanted stepchild, the worse they look. So far, with the aid of mainstream media, the DNC has successfully spread their narrative of Kennedy being an anti-vax/QAnon/anti-Semitic/spoiler/bully on a mission of conspiratorial, pro-Trump, rightwing lunacy, the likes of which no democracy could possibly survive. However, if he leaves now and runs a third-party campaign, those same people hating him will hate him harder and meaner, saying something along the lines of, “See, we told ya! He’s not a true Democrat.” And we will all shake our heads in disgust at how easily Americans will believe that tripe.

Whereas, after months of steady campaigning as a Democrat in alternative media and podcasts, he already is like a third-party candidate, taking supporters from Biden and the Republicans.

And Biden, despite what the DNC and every Democrat in Congress say, will not be seeking a second term. They have to say he will be at least until next year because otherwise Biden will find himself in what could turn into the longest lame duck term in history. After that, the only thing Biden will be running for is his much overdue retirement.

Kennedy needs the primary debates with whomever the DNC will be shoving down our throats once Biden steps aside. That is where the nation will see him for who he is and what he stands for. If Kennedy is an independent, the Democrats will continue to ignore him as they do now and there will be no debate. He will, instead, be further isolated in the perilous independent wilderness from which no one has ever successfully emerged.

It’s possible Kennedy may end up in the wilds anyway, blazing his own trail. And in that event, most of those who support him will follow him with the kind of determination capable of starting a revolution. 

But why push him out into the unknown when he doesn’t have to go—just yet—-when he can stand in the house his father and uncles helped to build? Where he is now, he wins even if he loses. If he leaves the party voluntarily, dignified and polite, he leaves something behind that is his heritage and his American right.

Why surrender when you can fight?

There’s a Native American proverb that goes like this: “No tree has branches so foolish as to fight among themselves.” Right now, the Democratic Party is run by an arrogant gang of unimaginative cowards. Maybe we don’t need to burn it down or abandon it. Sometimes all a tree needs is a really good pruning.