“Weakness,” Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, known to WWE fans as Kane, wrote on Twitter last week, “which is really what the Left is all about, is a fatal character flaw.”
He was set on making the point in the tweet that “might makes right,” which you might expect from a 6’10” monster who didn’t know a wristlock from a wristwatch, but parlayed size and monosyllabic promos to the WWE Hall of Fame.
Still, humoring him here, “might makes right,” “weakness.” Is this what the Left really is all about?
Let’s take universal healthcare, for instance. What that’s all about, on the surface, is healthcare for everybody, and Republican leaders have been making the case for decades that it’s a bad idea, because of the costs with providing healthcare for everybody.
But what about the effect of healthcare for everybody? It’s not like it would only be people on the Left who would be able to benefit.
The majority of those uninsured and underinsured are working-class whites who tend to vote Republican, and because they’re either uninsured or underinsured, are most exposed to healthcare-related bankruptcies.
And then small business owners, who cut across party lines, are often on the hook for paying for health insurance for employees, or risk losing those employees to bigger businesses that can afford the costs.
And what about those bigger businesses, who have to foot the bill for health insurance while competing in global markets with businesses from countries that already have universal healthcare?
People like Glenn Jacobs don’t care. They already have the best healthcare.
Universal healthcare is the right thing to do because it’s the right thing to do.
It also makes us, not weaker, as Republican leaders claim, but rather strong.
As does public education, which Republican leaders do everything they can to undermine, scheming ways to divert money to charter and private schools, the goal being to make sure that wealthy white kids whose parents give money to Republican leaders get the best, the rest of us get what we get.
If we pump more money into our public schools, kids from working-class families get the best, too, and with getting the best, they get a chance to become the best version of themselves.
I’m speaking from experience here, as a kid from a trailer park, now a successful writer and small business co-owner.
It might be college for some, training in a trade for others, but whatever it is, why don’t we want every kid getting the best, so that they can be their best?
Again, that doesn’t make us weaker, but rather stronger.
The environment is another area that Republican leaders attack for being a waste of time from the Left. Clean air, clean water, clean energy, isn’t an end; it’s a means, to healthier living.
Same with civil rights. Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ Lives Matter, Women’s Lives Matter, because they do, but as we recognize that they do, Black Americans, LGBTQ+ Americans, Women, can focus more of their time and mental energies on being who they can be, and when they can be who they can be, they’re better, and we’re all better.
Not weaker, but rather stronger.
Might doesn’t even make right in a wrestling ring, even when you’re a 6’10” monster, without the person in charge of deciding who wins and loses making it so.
Funny how it’s Republican leaders deciding that rich white folks having the best healthcare, the best schools for their kids, having not a care in the world about the environment, no idea what it’s like to be treated like a second-class citizen, is what’s right.
They have the might.
Doesn’t make it right.
Story by Chris Graham
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