The Strangeness Of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s HHS Determining The Cause Of Much Increased Autism Prevalence – OpEd

During the coronavirus scare, bureaucrats in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) relentlessly claimed “the science” demanded that people stay isolated at home as much as possible, wear masks, keep at least six feet away from everyone else, refrain from obtaining early treatment, take shot after shot of experimental coronavirus “vaccines,” et cetera. Media and politicians largely echoed these sketchy demands.

Admirably, some people tried to educate Americans about how much of this United States government supported coronavirus propaganda was wrong. Among the most prominent of these critics was Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Now Kennedy is the new leader of HHS. Last week he told President Donald Trump at a Cabinet meeting that “a massive testing and research effort” would be undertaken to ensure that “by September we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures.”

There is reason for optimism that this investigation into the cause of autism will contribute to accomplishing in some part the goal of Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) that Kennedy references from time to time. After all, Kennedy’s reputation as a critical outsider has led to expectation he will reject the businesses as usual, special interests driven approach at HHS.

Yet, it is important to keep in mind that what we are seeing here also appears to be another example of a centralized government project to decree “the science.”

Over the long term, should that sort of approach be trusted to yield good results? Kennedy won’t be leading HHS forever. Future HHS leaders will have their own projects to fund and staff, likely informed by a very different orientation than Kennedy’s. For proponents of health and liberty, one step forward and two steps back may be the story of HHS a few years down the road — if Kennedy himself can manage in his tenure to improve the gargantuan department.

By all means, wish Kennedy success in disseminating information that will reduce the incidence of autism in America, with the caveat that liberty also be respected. But, at the same time, recognize that many of the problems related to health in America, as with coronavirus, have been significantly contributed to by establishing centralized government power over medicine. For the long term, Americans’ greatest gain for health would likely come from removing government involvement in health matters. Fail to do this and the special interests with much to gain and the power seekers will again take hold of the levers of power, with actually promoting health while respecting liberty shunted far from the first priority.

• This article was published at Ron Paul Institute