https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLlraZwIRaA
COMMENT
Yes, PR, it's a script, it's edited, but still, on a different plane than RFK JR is normally found. He's also very close to the famous (22 million views) speech by Jeff Daniels in NEWSROOM on HBO some years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML3qYHWRIZk
AI SUMMARY
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., running as an independent candidate for president, recalls a bygone era when America was seen as a beacon of democracy and moral authority. He reflects on the country's past achievements, such as economic prosperity, global leadership, and significant social movements like civil rights and environmentalism.
However, Kennedy laments the current state of America, describing it as plagued by chronic illness, violence, division, and economic disparity. He criticizes the loss of freedoms, the impact of drug cartels, and the decline in public health and education.
Despite these challenges, he emphasizes the potential for recovery and unity, calling for a return to the principles of peace, freedom, and prosperity. Kennedy believes that Americans are ready to reject fear-mongering and divisive politics, and he urges voters to support a vision of hope and national healing.
##
I'm Robert F Kennedy Jr and I'm running
as an independent candidate for
president of the United States I grew up
in an America that seemed to have
achieved its promise as an exemplary
Nation modern democracy had spread from
one nation ours in 1776 to 6 by 1865 and
to 190 by the 1960s we had become the
city on the hill we were a moral
Authority around the globe our
government institutions our Congress the
court the regulatory agents
and even the American Press were
renowned for their integrity and they
were revered worldwide other nations
wanted our American leadership they knew
the difference between leadership and
bullying which is something our current
leaders seem to have forgotten we were
the template of Liberty proof that for a
country to thrive its people must be
free free to speak free to worship free
to build great companies free to start
small businesses we were the freest
country in the world and by no
coincidence also the most prosperous
work Americans could provide for their
families on a single salary they could
buy a home raise a family save for
retirement without mountains of debt we
made the best music we made the best
movies we made gold standard automobiles
that everybody in the world wanted we
made blue jeans we reconstructed Europe
we put men on the moon we the world's
healthiest best educated children our
productivity Ingenuity our can do Spirit
were the Envy of the world we had
confidence in our strength our capacity
and the Limitless potential of our
country yeah we had serious racial and
environmental problems but in the hey
days of my youth the environmental
movement and the Civil Rights Movement
were picking up steam my father and some
of his allies were fighting to eliminate
the last pockets of hunger in Appalachia
in the Mississippi Delta and on the
Indian reservations and we became for
the first time a true constitutional
democracy in this country with all Races
voting and holding political office
other count trees aspired to be like us
and our children grew up proud of their
passport proud of their flag my uncle
President Kennedy left us a legacy of
Peace in the hope of ending the arms
race and winding down the Cold War those
were the traditions of Freedom
prosperity and peace that my father my
uncle and Martin Luther King Jr were
striving to protect in advance in the
half century since their death we've
lost touch with that vision for our
country
I want to tell you right now that we can
still restore that America the America
that almost was and yet may be but we
have to start by being honest with
ourselves neither my uncle nor my father
would recognize the version of America
that we have today we become a nation of
chronic illness of violence of
loneliness depression and Division and
poverty our great cities are becoming
tent encampments modern day Hooverville
filled with undocumented immigrants and
dispossessed Americans and people living
in their cars plagued by mental illness
and addiction and despair our border has
come under the control of criminal drug
cartels that traffic in Desolation and
fenel and in Buzz loads of desperate
human beings our children are drowning
in a crisis of alienation of
dispossession and complete disconnection
from their communities we've lost far
more of our young people to drugs in the
last decade and in the 20year Vietnam
War we've printed nine centuries worth
of money in a little over a decade and
spend 8 trillion on regime change Wars
those Wars have made America less safe
our country less strong and the world
far less stable while sending prices
through the roof as our infrastructure
falls apart tens of millions of Young
Americans no longer even dream of owning
their own home what happened to America
the land of opportunity where you could
be sure that if you worked hard and
played by the rules that you would have
a decent life all the new wealth of the
last generation has gone to the
billionaires and to transnational
corporations while our tattered middle
class our infrastructure our industry
have been hollowed out from the inside
instead of Promise we've left our kids
sick and drowning in debt the public
debt has gone from about 5 trillion do
under President George W bush to $34
trillion today and US household debt is
at a record high of
17.3 trillion if you include discouraged
workers are true unemployment rate is
23% young parents face housing Grocery
and child care costs that are
unaffordable too many Americans are
living Bleak and hopeless lives dreading
the one medical emergency or the car
repair that will tip them over the edge
into homelessness we rank 40th globally
in our People's Health and Wellness out
of the richest countries in the world
the United States is 35th in child
poverty rates just above Mexico we rank
36 in literacy and 45th in impr press
Freedom we have one of the highest
cancer rates in the world and our life
expectancy now ranks 59th according to
the World Bank that's right behind
Algeria which spends less than 130th per
capita of what we spend but even these
Grim figures hide the full picture of
our dire Health crisis we now have the
worst Health outcomes in the rich world
the highest maternal mortality rates the
highest number of gun deaths per capita
and the highest number of teen
pregnancies we lead the world in obesity
and chronic disease according to CDC 60%
of Americans have at least one chronic
condition when my uncle was president
only 6% of Americans had chronic disease
and all of these plights fall heaviest
on our young people or in 10 of them
suffer depression and half of them have
considered suicide one in 10 has anxiety
one in 10 has ADHD one in five is obes
it's time for us to say enough is enough
we were once a free and thve living
Nation the healthiest and strongest in
the world what we once were we can be
again how do I know that it's because
everywhere I go in this country I see a
profound determination among Americans
to heal we might have become the sickest
country on Earth but we also have the
most ingenious healers both inside and
outside conventional medicine we may
have sky high levels of depression and
addiction but we also have innovators
who have opened up New Frontiers and
recover we have some of the world's most
depleted agricultural soils but also
some of the world's most Innovative and
energetic regenerative Farmers we have
serious economic problems but we also
have the brightest and most ambitious
entrepreneurs we Face hunger and
homelessness and yet we meet it with the
highest philanthropic rates in the world
and bottomless kindness and compassion
we may be on the mat today but we can be
on our feet and happy and healthy and
strong again with good leadership
tomorrow our people and our system were
built for resilience and here's the most
important thing I want to tell you about
the state of our Union our nation seems
more divided than ever but Americans
everywhere want to heal that divide our
nation has become artificially divided
by political forces that can survive
only when we the people are at war with
each other people are tired of being
manipulated by fear we learned that
lesson during Co we recognize that the
same techniques of manipulating fear are
being used used by El leades today to
Coral us into voting for one political
candidate or the other Americans are
tired of these dire warnings that to
preserve democracy itself you better
vote for our guy I can tell you that in
every state of this Union people are
rejecting fear
mongering 80% of Americans say they
don't want to be forced to choose in
this election between the lesser of two
evils they're tired of voting against
something or someone I see it in the
crowds a mix Republicans and Democrats
and independents who attend my rallies
that a growing number of Americans are
rejecting divisiveness they're ready to
unite to rebuild this country and to
fulfill the promise of the America of my
youth they're ready to vote for
something and for someone they like for
someone who represents hope and healing
or someone with a inspiring vision for
America's future for a future that they
can believe in so that's the State of
the Union that I want to bring you today
it's a nation that hungers to heal it's
a nation Ready To Face Reality to
rebuild to end the forever Foreign Wars
to clean out the corrupt Washington
establishment and to turn again toward
peace freedom good health and prosperity
when we unite in that Vision we're going
to be
unstoppable thank you and God bless you
##
