09 Jul 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Calls for Criminalizing Differences of Opinion

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces that politicians who disagree with him on climate issues are committing “treason.”

As reported by Newsday, speaking at Al Gore’s Live Earth in new Jersey, Kennedy shouted “This is treason. And we need to start treating them as traitors.”

From Manufacturer’s Blog comes this longer quotation:

Now you’ve heard today a lot of people say that there are many little things that you all can do today to avert climate change on your own. But I will tell you this, it is more important than buying compact fluorescent light bulbs or than buying a fuel efficient automobile. The most important thing you can do is to get involved in the political process and get rid of all of these rotten politicians that we have in Washington D.C. — who are nothing more than corporate toadies for companies like Exxon and Southern Company, these villainous companies that consistently put their private financial interest ahead of American interest and ahead of the interest of all of humanity. This is treason and we need to start treating them now as traitors.

The Constitution of the United States defines treason thusly:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.

One of the penalties for treason, of course, is death.

Kennedy often seems angry. I guess being born into a wealthy, privileged family and given a name that guaranteed he’d never have to work one-tenth as hard as anyone else for the same degree of success wasn’t enough for him. Either that, or those very things convinced him that he deserves to get his way all the time.

Treason aside, given the many, many factual inaccuracies in Kennedy’s Live Earth speech, it’s amusing to consider the professions for which Kennedy’s temperament would have qualified him had he instead been born “Elmer Sludge, Jr.”

P.S. Brad Blog guest blogger Alan Breslauer, who apparently agrees with Kennedy’s call to hyper-criminalize scientific and public policy differences, has a video and transcript of Kennedy’s remarks here. Addendum, 7/10: Never mind; Brad Blog had to remove the video from its site. Apparently, its proprietors forgot about the little detail called “copyright” — which they didn’t have.