RFK Jr. 'Manifesto' Parallels 'Abolishing' Slavery, Quitting Carbon Use

Change font size:  A |  A

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to ‘abolish’ carbon usage and sees a direct comparison to the end of slavery.

According to Kennedy, “industry and government warnings” about avoiding “economic ruin” should not be heeded because abolishing slavery did not cripple the British economy as was predicted “Instead of collapsing, as slavery’s proponents had predicted, Britain’s economy accelerated,” he argued. Here's how he put it: 

“Lord Puttnam recalled that precisely 200 years ago Parliament heard identical caveats during the debate over abolition of the slave trade. At that time slave commerce represented one-fourth of Britain’s G.D.P. and provided its primary source of cheap, abundant energy. Vested interests warned that financial apocalypse would succeed its prohibition,” wrote Kennedy in a “manifesto” to the next American president in Vanity Fair’s “Green” issue.

An appalling comparison isn't it? Just a few sentences later, Kennedy explained, “Today, we don’t need to abolish carbon as an energy source in order to see its inefficiencies starkly, or to understand that this addiction is the principal drag on American Capitalism.” Then he went out to promote outright “decarbonization.” 

Kennedy even absurdly claimed that “economies reap immediate rewards” for ending carbon dependency and cited Sweden’s promise to phase out fossil fuels by 2020. But then he immediately said the Swedes enacted a $150 a ton carbon tax. Kennedy must have trouble with the "reward" concept because taxes sure sound like punishment to me.