Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s priorities may seem like a random grab bag of contrarianism, conspiracies, and earnest environmental activism: vaccine skepticism, Bitcoin enthusiasm, government-run organic farming communes to wean people off pharmaceuticals, opposition to corporate polluters, embrace of climate change skeptics.
But there is nothing random about these positions. RFK Jr. represents a simple and compelling worldview about the problems facing humanity: Naturalness is good, and unnaturalness leads to evil. Now a part of Trump’s transition team, his worldview may end up influencing American political policy, specifically on pet issues involving public health, ranging from the allocation of medical research funding (GMOs, CRISPR) to the government’s position on vaccines. For scientists, medical professionals, and journalists who want to understand why so many people embrace that worldview, what its influence will look like, and how to push back effectively, it is crucial to understand Kennedy’s unique interpretation of “natural.”
One place to start is with the near-religious significance of “natural” for the Natural Law Party, the obscure political party that nominated RFK Jr. as its candidate in Michigan. According to their platform, “when people live in harmony with natural law, they don’t make mistakes — they spontaneously uphold higher values, and they enjoy naturally good health and a life free from problems.”
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