Sticking It to the Man by Getting Stuck

We’ll get to the main point of this note in a minute. 

First, I’m old enough to actually remember U.S. NY Senator, former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.  His life has been chronicled hundreds of times:  at 5’9” or 5’10”, he was the shortest of the four Kennedy brothers – Joe, Jack, and Ted were all six foot tall or more – but the most feisty; the ramrod manager of his brother’s successful campaign for the presidency; as the Right Hand of the Man, the Kennedy Administration lightning rod tough guy who nonetheless provided the sagest advice during the Cuban Missile Crisis (because of his relationship with his brother, he could psychologically safely counsel a softer approach than the more warlike measures urged by the majority of President Kennedy’s Crisis ExComm team); a more passionate, empathetic figure than his brother – who was coolly intellectual behind closed doors – he had his Justice Department provide quiet assistance to the Civil Rights Movement, and in the years following his brother’s assassination was the most powerful advocate for Civil Rights in America.  (Dr. Martin Luther King was the movement’s leader, but never had the influence with White America commanded of Mr. Kennedy, the closest link the grieving country had to its charismatic martyred president.)  I doubt that any white American politician will ever again have the passionate allegiance of the black community that Robert Kennedy had the day he was assassinated.  Not as gifted a speaker as his brother, he nonetheless inspired millions.  He might or might not have made a great president of the United States; our great presidents have relished being president, while Mr. Kennedy was more comfortable being “the guy who stands next to the guy,” and only assumed a role at the forefront due to his outrage at the mistreatment of Black America and President Lyndon Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War (he and Mr. Johnson hated each other).  But Robert F. Kennedy was without doubt in the top tier of the most important non-presidents America had in the second half of the last century.  Immediately below is a link to Edward Kennedy’s eulogy at his brother’s funeral; it is worth listening to not only for Edward’s Kennedy’s description of his brother but for Robert Kennedy’s own words, which his brother quoted at length in the middle of his remembrance.  Listening to these, I think one can assume that Robert Kennedy would be unspeakably saddened at how we have handled the more than half-century since his passing. 

To state the obvious:  I just took your time with the last paragraph because it aggravates me that for the rest of their lives most Americans younger than septuagenarians will primarily associate the name, “Robert F. Kennedy,” with the Senator’s namesake son, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is, of course, an idiot supported by pinheads misleading the gullible.  Yesterday’s Senate Finance Committee’s meeting featuring Mr. Kennedy, Jr. allowed Senators of  both parties to sound off but did nothing to protect public health or the scientific integrity of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

We have a significant number of different pharmaceutical outlets in our Madison area, and have a number of friends over 65 who are desirous of receiving the latest version of the COVID vaccination despite the quackery being spouted by Mr. Kennedy, Jr. and his clown menagerie.  You’d think that even under the unduly restrictive guidelines recently spewed by Mr. Kennedy, Jr.’s CDC, it would be relatively straightforward for anyone over 65 in the Madison area wishing a COVID vaccination to get one.  But seemingly not so, at least not yet.  Seniors compare notes of their experiences.  As of earlier this week,  one regional chain had yet to receive the new vaccination; a representative of another, larger, organization indicated that it was reluctant to proceed with vaccinations because it wasn’t sure of the new rules; another, yet more established pharmacy, told a friend of ours that it required a prescription to administer the vaccination, which our friend understood applied to all ages; but we found another – which, at least as of earlier this week, would administer the new COVID vaccination if simply provided with identification, age, and the same consent forms as have been required with past inoculations. 

We scurried over.  I don’t know how our request for a vaccination would have been received had we been under 65, but this was one instance where being of Medicare age was a true plus.  We got our COVID shots.

The depth of emotion I felt as I got my shot made me recall my emotion when I received my first COVID vaccination in 2021.  Then, it was immense relief: there seemed a way forward from the danger that had literally plagued us and cost millions of lives during the preceding year.  This time, my depth of emotion was similar, but the sentiment was different; it was intense – no, savage – satisfaction at having thwarted, at least in this one case by this one old American, the  buffoonery and confusion being foisted upon us by an Administration equal parts autocratic and moronic.

Get some perspective, you say:  this week Chinese President Xi Jinping rallied the world’s primary autocracies against democracies that are currently in disarray due to President Donald Trump’s own dictatorial inclinations and incompetence, Mr. Trump currently appears intent on consolidating his American Apartheid, and getting the vaccination wasn’t that big a deal for me since Mr. Kennedy, Jr.’s CDC has authorized those 65 and older to get the COVID shot if they want it.  True enough.  However, I can’t do anything about the first, and can only protest and blog about the second; as to the last, even if Mr. Kennedy, Jr. is saying that I can get the shot – at least this year – we both know that he didn’t want me to.

We stuck it to The Man by getting stuck.  It was … priceless.