Dear Dad,
Who is Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. and what’s he have to do with food?
Well… he’s the son of RFK, hails from the most famous Democrat family, turned Trump Republican, and is pledging to Make America Healthy Again…
Now before you roll your eyes, which may be warranted because it’s hard to read much about RFK jr. without fighting the urge to scratch your head, first ponder, what’s all this make America healthy again talk?
It bears highlighting “that broad critique of the American food system is shared by many on the left as well as the right.”1 At a time when we are certainly divided, why not unite together around the dinner table. I mean that’s what tables are for, right? Is there a better issue than food to bring people together?
Kennedy, who is likely to serve in the next administration in some capacity has vowed to fight chronic disease by implementing a food and health agenda. One that takes “direct aim at the country’s powerful corporate agribusiness and pharmaceutical companies.” Kennedy recently tweeted: “If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.”
His charge for the new administration is to get rid of “the corruption and the conflicts” at regulatory agencies,” to “return the agencies to the gold standard” of “empirically based, evidence-based science and medicine” and to “end the chronic disease epidemic with measurable impacts” within two years.2 No small task and the first test will be if he’s willing to tell his boss to quit eating McDonalds.
So far so good, however, many insiders are fearful that Kennedy’s agenda “would completely upend the existing U.S. food system.”3 Agenda items like banning certain pesticides and food additives, seed oils, and ultra processed foods.
Is upending the existing U.S. food system supposed to be bad?
Are we supposed to be comforted in the results of our current food system? Are chemicals and additives, many of which are banned in other countries by the way, good to eat? Do you feel better when eating abroad then you do when eating in America?
Could America actually be made healthy again?
I hope so.
Is RFK jr. the guy for the job?
TBD.
RFK jr. is defined obsessively by outsiders from the left, the right, the top and bottom. He’s a reformed ex-felon environmental lawyer who’s clearly anti-vax for promoting free choice and better data…
Many people see “RFK as a total hack,” while others nod along believing that the food system needs to be reformed from the inside out.
I belong to the latter. I’m still unsure about the former. But would it be terrible to give Bobby a shot?
With Love,
JSR
I'm looking forward to seeing reforms! Thanks for highllighting this issue!