Anti-vax asshat RFK Jr. on Dr. Oz, promoting his anti-vax asshat book...

[PatrickforO]

20. I'm sure thankful that vaccines exist, that's for sure. Because...

I never had polio, or smallpox, tuberculosis or any of the other diseases easily prevented by vaccines. My parents made sure I was vaccinated against everything I could be, and because of this I'm still alive and relatively healthy.

As to autism and a variety of other mental conditions, I don't think it's vaccines that cause them at all. I think it is the fact that our stress levels increased an order of magnitude over the 20th century and that increase is accelerating in this century. The problem, the way I see it, is that the Cold War was bad enough, but when the Soviet Union fell in 1991, the socialist 'threat' seemed so thoroughly discredited after decades of Leninism that the right wing capitalists began accelerating their efforts to deregulate, privatize and completely gut the New Deal.

These people, now called 'neoliberals,' want to return us to a more 'pure' brand of capitalism where the market is virtually unrestrained. This, unfortunately, is a living hell for about 99% of the people, including I imagine just about everybody reading this post.

I believe the rise in mental illness of all kinds is directly related to the terrible levels of economic stress we're all under, the fear of being laid off at the drop of a pin, the deterioration of wages and benefits, and the attacks on affordability of college and other programs that help Americans. In addition, the general sense of insecurity caused by the military industrial complex Ike warned us about keeping us on a constant war footing through fear of terrorism, adds to the general malaise.

I'm not a doctor, though. I'm an economist, but I do wonder how much healthier we'd all be if we had the same kind of situation as some Northern European nations, like Denmark. In Denmark, college is free because the government knows that an educated populace makes for a higher standard of living. Danes have cradle to grave healthcare. Sure, they pay really high taxes, but they are generally happier, healthier and live longer than we do.

Oh, but (gasp!) that's SOCIALISM! (shudder)