I have long had my skepticism about political figures. They are quick to make amazing promises about the direction and state of our nation, yet in all of my lifetime have rarely made any significant change to the growth, size and function of government. All of us have watched the theater unfold in election cycle after election cycle as we are manipulated into fear of other people and issues that leave us terrified that without candidate X candidate Y will destroy the republic. They promise to affect change and to restore the government to the people. Yet the state grows and the politicians, even the boldest and brazen of them, become neutered to the machine - that moves in ever pressing fashion towards more control and insulation from criticism.
I make no illusions that politics will fix anything in our wounded land. We have so much healing to do - we have been abused for so long. But leadership is evident regardless of its vehicle of delivery. Great leaders point to a vision on the horizon and trust that if the people catch that vision, they will become unstoppable.
I have been writing and discussing many things around the Robert F. Kennedy jr. presidential campaign. I had my admiration for his life and accomplishments established well before he decided to run. His convictions during the most troubling time of our republic were lattices of woven words of comfort to me. As time has passed, it is easy to forget the strain that so many of us felt as we were faced with lockdowns, loss of work, vaccine mandates for employment and the evaporation of everything in culture and humanity that makes life worth living. But I have not forgotten Mr. Kennedy’s voice…and have become an advocate of him. Perhaps at peril of relationships and work opportunities, but being given the gift of that great, strong voice in a most troubling time has captured much affection for the man and the moment.
I woke up one morning a few weeks ago to an email requesting a private meeting with Mr. Kennedy before the rally in Denver on the 19th of May. I genuinely was stunned at the offer. I’m a middle aged dad, worried about my kids and finances and all the other things that so many of us in America are. I would not have expected the opportunity and yet it felt like the kindest of gestures by a friend who I knew I had, but had never met.
So this is the story of the meeting - how in the midst of a campaign a good man took time out to make sure we had a chance to meet.
Part of why I joined this campaign as a volunteer is because Mr. Kennedy was a voice for my family and myself during a season when no one else was speaking up. I had my referenced hero's and people I thought should be trusted; but those misplaced trusts came from my american instincts towards a strangely absurd devotion to political brand.
When everything was upside down, None of those supposed heroes spoke up.
Mr. Kennedy did.
He was saying what I knew to be true. It was pulling at that deep, guttural knowledge that comes from Natural law. He knew that what was happening was wrong - and that if we didn't speak up, the last vestige of our free life would be lost.
That means something to a father who wants a great country for his children. It becomes bigger than brand loyalty when so much is at stake. All those years of being told by talk radio and conservative news that the Kennedy name was too liberal for America proved easily disposed of when the principles he was leaning into shone as a white hot light of truth on the fear and authoritarian actions of our people and our government.
So as I arrived for my moment to speak to this voice who has meant so much to me - far beyond just his political campaign - I wasn't exactly sure what I could say that would mean what I wanted it to.
The green room was already set up for some video work that he was doing and when I was shown in, he was in the middle of working through the last of his pitch to the camera.
And then I shook his hand - and said what mattered to me. I wanted to say thanks for being convicted, and motivated by our great nation and the ideals that drive a man towards principle instead of power.
I took no photos or video - I just wanted to absorb a moment I had been waiting for. This encountering of a friend that I have wanted to talk with and express my gratitude for. We talked about our country for a moment, Artificial Intelligence, and if I thought people were waking up from what happened during Covid.
I told him I thought so - and that his campaign is a testament to that more than any other piece of anecdotal evidence. There are so many of us who are longing for a real change. Not a slogan or batch of rhetoric, but change that is concrete and significant. Change that starts from the fundamental of natural rights, inherent by our internal God spark that rests upon all creation. We aren't interested in fighting any longer about the insolvable. We are looking for a rebirth of what government is - and Mr. Kennedy is telling us that it's available still, and that he's willing to show us how to get there.
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