Vote for Kennedy, Heal the Divide: “Recovering America”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will soon qualify to be on the ballot for U.S. President 2024 in all 50 states, including in the District of Columbia, but many voters don’t know it. Kennedy Jr. confirmed this in a live call while thanking his volunteers for helping collect signatures. Team Kennedy is holding campaign conferences and phone banks to reach out to voters.

“As of August 2nd, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has met the ballot requirements of 42 states, which qualifies him for 480 electoral votes. By September 6th, RFK Jr. will have submitted the signatures in all 50 states and Washington DC, qualifying for every electoral vote in the nation.” —Kennedy24.com

However in the United States being eligible to be on the presidential ballot and actually appearing on the ballot are separate matters. Both the Democrats and the Republicans’ stranglehold on power is so strong in the United States that third parties or independents hardly ever qualify for the presidential debates. This did not prevent RFK Jr from hosting his own “debate” cast in the form of a moderator with timed responses. The alternative debate appears at Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s channels on YouTube, and on Rumble.

The future of the two-party system is strongly determined and influenced by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), and Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). These two organizational bodies write and enforce the rules on anything from campaign finance to the presidential debates. In 2024 President Biden and former president Trump, the major party candidates, sought a compromise with the CPD. Instead of the CPD, major news stations, CNN and ABC, are organizing the debates.

In fact, what appeals to many voters and particularly independents (who now comprise 51% of the voter registration) about Kennedy, Jr. is his committment to themes such as “Heal the Divide.” He wants there to be reconciliation between the divisions in America (black vs. white, rich vs. poor, employed vs. unemployed, liberals vs. conservatives).

“Most politicians run by stirring up as much hate and anger as possible against the other side. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will appeal instead to our broad moral agreements. Everyone wants a society that is fair, compassionate, safe, and free. A possibility of unity lies beneath the artificial divisions of the ‘culture wars.’ RFK Jr. will set an example of respectful listening to all sides. Respect is the path to unity, and it is through unity—true populism—that we will turn this country around.” —-Kennedy24.com

RFK Jr and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, not only live by these words but model them for the world. Shanahan told her campaigners that she truly believes in the need for dialogue and not being locked within the two-party debate. Our leaders can do what really needs to be done for the people of the country, and allow them to follow their hopes and dreams, Shanahan asserts. “This election is just as much about psychology as anything else,” she warns.

That mirrors what RFK, Jr. believes and recreates in his award-qualifying “Recovering America” documentary. As people know, RFK Jr. has been a champion of vaccine rights for children for decades through his Children’s Health Defense Fund. As an attorney he has won court cases defending against the excesses of the FDA and Big Pharma.

But “Recovering America” takes his genuine concern for the drug-addiction crisis in America to a whole new level. This is a topic that clearly RFK Jr. takes personally because he also struggled with addiction decades ago. The world premier is on YouTube, and the actual documentary is on Rumble under the Robert F. Kennedy channel, but also under the Dr. Drew Pinsky channel. Check out the “Recovering America” trailer for a preview.

This is a touchstone documentary because over the past decade the demise of the cities has become noticeable even amid the so-called rentier-gentrification boom. So many have been left behind due to destruction of older apartment buildings, broken homes, corporate downsizing, and not enough genuine community stop gaps on homelessness and drug addiction. The process has only accelerated due to Covid-19, the flood of migrants, and the smuggling of drugs tainted with fetanyl.

According to Dr. Drew Pinsky, a licensed psychiatrist, too many cures for pain and trauma involve over-prescribing pills such as opioids, about which he has spoken out courageously. Tom Wolf, a former drug addict, notes that today there are over 107,000 deaths attributed to drug-overdose. Producer Donna LoCicero notes that the issue is much bigger than we realize, with at least fifty million people dealing with substance abuse addiction.

In open-air drug bazaars, according to Wolf, more than 50% of the addicts are smoking fetanyl. And in today’s West Coast cities, too many are young people.

“More than 50% are smoking fetanyl on foil. If you take away the drugs, 80% of the people will go away. But because the drugs are so easily available and cheap, it creates this permanent situation where people are addicted. And about 2 people die a day from overdose.”

People soon learn that with today’s lawfare targeting shopkeepers who fight back, shoplifting and living on the street becomes a way of life.

“The drug destroys them from the inside out. Whatever chance they had for recovery is being robbed from them.”

Kennedy campaigner Jim Hiller tells the audience: “This is a disease that cuts across ethnic…and race boundaries.”

According to Kennedy himself, drug addicts share a common background of trauma. No one can forget the national trauma from Robert F. Kennedy being assassinated in Los Angeles, nor his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, also being assassinated. Researchers also note that young people become vulnerable if they live in isolation from friends, siblings, or family.

There is no magic bullet for a solution, however, many point to the Amsterdam model for combatting drug addiction. The right kind of lawfare involves a tough-love approach. Arrest those who are living on the streets and match them up with appropriate nonprofit non-government-run addiction-withdrawal programs. When you have local, state, and police cooperation, it will restore the streets to living safely again. For instance, in Amsterdam, the problem is down to 1.3% of the number of deaths that used to take place.

In fact, private drug-rehab programs exist today run without much government interference in states such as Florida, Utah, and Washington states. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. interviews Judge Liefman who asserts that this is the way to “kill two birds with one stone” because those incarcerated often have “mental illness or substance use disorder or both.”

“Every convict sentence will have their mental health illness treated and also their substance abuse. They will get treatment, counseling, and transition to a program training for job skills and housing. Some people need more supervision than others. They are also tested for those substances in their saliva.” — Judge Verde

The program works because of a team of community support specialists who assist the clients in recovery, in taking the right medications, and in returning to full citizenship.

One program called The Other Side Academy provides education, training, and entrepreneurial certificates run by the private nonprofit.

“Now we have The Other Side Academy and we also have our own enterprise, the best moving company in Utah. Graduates are now rehabilitated and working. We offer as much time as it takes, and there is no time limit because we are not tethered to a government funding source.”

Private nonprofits work because there is no micromanagement; people are allowed to use their creativity whether it’s offering boxing, such as Brian Gallagher does, or become retrained as a Habitat for Humanity home construction specialist. Whether it’s running a horse-ranch in Washington or growing herbs at Simple Promise farms, enrollees are growing new skillsets. Ultimately everyone in these programs that offer comprehensive peer-support and community experiences healing at a personal level.

Today the entrepreneurial spirit is often suffocated by overregulation, lawfare that allows tents to flourish like mushrooms just outside the front door, and lackluster political commitment. When run properly, independent rehab programs not only teach hard skills, reconnecting people to Nature and the Land, but even turns a cooperative-growth profit.

“Building skills for the outside world, I learn to be more emotionally available. This place brings us together to form a nucleus of community, and it teaches us the value of life and what we have to offer.” — Horse Ranch apprentice

This simple fruitful learning and clean living jives with RFK, Jr. He shares with the young apprentices his own personal story of recovering and putting his faith in God, believing in 12-steps, and becoming conscious of appreciating each step every day. He offers the young ranchers encouragement and advice:

“You have to just put your faith as if there is a God, even if nobody is looking at you. Each part of the day now had a moral dimension to it. Each step of the day…It builds character. I get to keep that commitment. For me the AA was great, helpful, even if to others it seems like brainwashing. It gives me hope and determination and endurance.” — RFK, Jr. “Recovering America”

Most importantly, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. connects “Recovering America” with a campaign promise he will fulfill as America’s next President in 2024:

“Today the biggest industry in American’s depressed rural areas are prisons. I’m going to bring a new industry to these forgotten corners of America where addicts can help each other to recover from their addictions. We are going to build hundreds of healing farms where American kids can work and connect to America’s soil. Where they can learn the discipline of hard work that rebuilds self-esteem and where they can master new skills as farmers, ranchers, carpenters, furniture makers, bakers and cooks, electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, and other trades. We’re going to finance these recovery farms with a federal tax on legalized marijuana. We’ll put no time limit on recovery as everyone’s journey is different. There is hope for our nation to heal the scourge of addiction, we just have to make it a national priority, and when I’m in the White House, we will.”

Lest we forget, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. also strongly believes in a connection of the land with the people, and that clearly means all people. He has served as a leader in Riverkeepers, an environmental revitalization program working with the indigenous. Natural wetlands restoration and aquifer replenishment is a priority in order to protect against drought, particularly in the Southwest, currently affecting the Colorado River watersheds and aquifer recharge capability in Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California.

According to the ASCE Civil Engineering (Nov/Dec 2021) magazine report, “Following Nature’s Lead,” environmental restoration efforts in North Texas are helping to lower the amount of pollutants and nutrients flowing from Willow Branch Creek into the Red River, which in turn flows into Atchafalaya River. Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico has created a dead zone extending for tens of miles out into the ocean, practically the size of Connecticut, making fishing no longer possible.

“The new and improved Willow Branch Creek is holding rain in the local water table longer, allowing it to nourish the new wetlands, trees, shrubs, and grasslands. It is also providing much cleaner water to the Red River and downstream to the Gulf.”

This project creates a natural lake reservoir, Bois d’Arc Lake, which provide drinking water for 1.8 million people. It also rejuvenates the local economy offering recreational and agricultural opportunities for the local economy. According to the report, at least 70 miles of creek were enhanced and protected, while 17 miles of Willow Branch Creek and its tributaries underwent intense restoration to return them back to their natural riperian meanderings. Aerial and in-depth investigations throughout the 12,000-acre watershed were undertaken to identify soils, uncover historic floodplain boundary, utilize ideal grass and willow cuttings, and construct compatible ecologically-supportive anti-erosion mattings. The past, present, and future are taken into consideration for this extensive project which includes interviews with neighbors, farmers and ranchers, and overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Follow the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. campaign at Kennedy24.com