Last week, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked me to moderate what he called “The Real Debate<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Kennedy was angry with CNN because it wouldn’t let him join its Trump-Biden debate.<\/p>\n

His people persuaded Elon Musk to carry his Real Debate on X, formerly Twitter. They asked me to give RFK Jr. the same questions, with the same time limits.<\/p>\n

I agreed, hoping to hear some good new ideas.<\/p>\n

I didn’t.<\/p>\n

As you know, President Joe Biden slept, and former President Donald Trump lied. Well, OK, Biden lied at least nine times, too, even by CNN’s<\/a> count.<\/p>\n

Kennedy was better.<\/p>\n

But not much.<\/p>\n

He did acknowledge that our government’s deficit spending binge is horrible. He said he’d cut military spending. He criticized unscientific COVID-19 lockdowns and said nice words about school choice.<\/p>\n

But he, too, dodged questions, blathered on past time limits, and pushed big government nonsense like, “Every million dollars we spend on child care creates 22 jobs.”<\/p>\n

Give me a break.<\/p>\n

Independence Day is this week.<\/p>\n

As presidential candidates promise to subsidize flying cars (Trump), free community college tuition (Biden), and “affordable” housing via 3 percent government-backed bonds (Kennedy), I think about how bewildered and horrified the Founding Fathers would be by such promises.<\/p>\n

On the Fourth of July almost 250 years ago, they signed the Declaration of Independence, marking the birth of our nation.<\/p>\n

They did not want life dominated by politicians. They wanted a society made up of free individuals. They believed every human being has “unalienable rights” to life, liberty, and (justly acquired) property.<\/p>\n

The blueprints created by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution gradually created the freest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world.<\/p>\n

Before 1776, people thought there was a “divine right” of kings and nobles to rule over them.<\/p>\n

America succeeded because the Founders rejected that belief.<\/p>\n

In the Virginia Declaration of Rights, George Mason wrote<\/a>, “All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people.”<\/p>\n

By contrast, Kennedy and Biden make promises that resemble the United Nations’ “Universal Declaration of Human Rights<\/a>.” U.N. bureaucrats say every person deserves “holidays with pay…clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.”<\/p>\n

The Founders made it clear that governments should be limited<\/em>. They didn’t think we had a claim on our neighbor’s money. We shouldn’t try to force them to pay for our food, clothing, housing, prescription drugs, college tuition.<\/p>\n

They believe you have the right to be left alone to pursue happiness as you see fit.<\/p>\n

For a while, the U.S. government stayed modest. Politicians mostly let citizens decide our own paths, choose where to live, what jobs to take, and what to say.<\/p>\n

There were a small number of “public servants.” But they weren’t our bosses.<\/p>\n

Patrick Henry declared<\/a>: “The governing persons are the servants of the people.”<\/p>\n

Yet now there are 23 million government employees. Some think they<\/em> are in charge of everything.<\/p>\n

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D\u2013N.Y.), pushing her Green New Deal, declared herself “the boss.”<\/p>\n

The Biden administration wants to decide what kind of car you should drive.<\/p>\n

During the pandemic, politicians ordered people to stay home, schools to shut down and businesses to close.<\/p>\n

Then, as often happens in “Big Government World,” people harmed by government edicts ask politicians to compensate them.<\/p>\n

After governments banned Fourth of July fireworks, the American Pyrotechnics Association requested “relief in the next Senate Covid package to address the unique and specific costs to this industry,” reported<\/a> The New York Times<\/em>. “The industry hopes Congress will earmark $175 million for it in another stimulus bill.”<\/p>\n

Today the politically connected routinely lobby passionately to get bigger chunks of your money.<\/p>\n

For some of you, the last straw was when the administration demanded you inject a chemical into your body.<\/p>\n

When some resisted vaccinations, Biden warned<\/a>, “Our patience is wearing thin.”<\/p>\n

His patience? Who does he think he is? My father? My king?<\/p>\n

At least Kennedy doesn’t say things like that. But he does say absurd things. In a few weeks I’ll release my sit-down interview with him, and you can decide for yourself whether he’s a good candidate.<\/p>\n

This Fourth of July, remember Milton Friedman’s question: “How can we keep the government we create from becoming a Frankenstein that will destroy the very freedom we establish it to protect?”<\/p>\n

COPYRIGHT 2024 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Watch The Real Debate as it was meant to be with all three candidates \u2014 Kennedy, Biden, Trump.#TheRealDebate<\/a> has already been seen more than 11 million times. pic.twitter.com\/W27pXIOLkd<\/a><\/p>\n

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) June 30, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n