It is a truism that does not get talked about enough, but is innately part of being a conservative, or really a person of any ideological conviction — worldview matters.
Those of us on the right have long understood this.
If, for example, a person is an atheist who believes there is no eternal judgment, Heaven or Hell, their convictions about life and public policy related to lives will matter. Among secular progressives, we regularly witness the advance of public policy that would bring out a supposed Heaven on earth. From climate change to wealth policies, progressives believe this is all we will have and they will reorder the world whether we like it or not.
Likewise, those of us on the right have long, long understood that the worldview of someone who is pro-life versus someone who is pro-abortion matters. If one believes that life begins at conception, social policy for expectant mothers matters. So too does tax policy, planning for future educations of the children, etc. A pro-life person and a pro-abortion person will value people differently and make different decisions more often than not.
A pro-life person is vastly more likely to value the individual over the collective. The pro-abortion person will value family planning for the better ordering of society in their minds — encouraging, for example, women in the workforce with abortion rights that, without them, could hinder their career advances due to the, in their view, burden of a child.
Worldview matters because we are regularly thrust into unexpected situations and our values, upbringing and character will filter through our worldview to inform our decision-making. That affects both the staggering ordinariness of decisions in our daily lives and the irregular and unexpected curveballs life gives each of us.
We all know worldview matters. This is precisely why the United States Senate should reject the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
There are plenty of individuals as committed as Kennedy to making America healthy again, without the worldview of a privileged, hedonistic, serial adulterer, abortion advocate whose overall worldview is progressivism tinged with hedonistic contrarianism. His views on vaccines overall are not grounded in science. He has repeatedly been caught lying about vaccines and medicines to advance his views. His views were, not that long ago, heralded by the Hollywood left, with a privilege that allowed them to escape the consequences of their actions and decision-making — a privilege Kennedy has time and time again used to get out of his poor decision-making.
Kennedy is not just a progressive pro-abortionist who supports gun control. He is also not a good person. His sexual escapades widely attributed to his second wife’s breakdown and ultimately to her suicide. Before she hanged herself, Kennedy’s wife found his journal documenting his sexual escapades with 37 women.
Kennedy’s wife was pregnant at the time with their fourth child. He had a reputation of sending nude pictures of his sexual conquests to friends. Because the divorce, though filed, had not been finalized before she hanged herself, Kennedy had a judge give him control of her remains, over the objections of her siblings.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services plays a larger role than the one people on the right would prefer Kennedy to administer. He will be shaped by the worldview of a privileged scion of the Kennedy family steeped in progressivism, gun control and abortion rights. He will have power over a vast portion of our lives, and his moral character, long-held progressive agenda, and worldview should disqualify him from a position of such power and importance. He would control a quarter of the entire federal budget and be in the presidential line of succession.
We cannot trust the man in the moment to make the right decision, and he — not his underlings we are assured will protect us from Kennedy’s excesses — will make many decisions.
The Senate Republicans should reject Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Erick Erickson is a syndicated columnist.