They Are on the Ballot

By Steve Hunley

Whether you believe it or not, there is a socialist movement in Knoxville; in fact, there is a ticket of socialist candidates running for city council.  They refer to it as the “City Council Movement” without referring to themselves as socialists.  The candidates running as part of the City Council Movement are David Hayes, Amelia Parker, and Charles Al-Bawi.  Perhaps in order to appear to be more mainstream, these candidates have affiliated themselves with, for better or worse, Indya Kincannon.  It could be that Kincannon has aligned herself with the far left in a bid to appear to be the most progressive (i.e. meaning Leftist) candidate in the mayoral race.  “Progressive” means something entirely different than it did just a few years ago.  “Moderate” has about ceased to exist for some of these folks.

Several pseudo-socialists were the personal guests of State Representative Gloria Johnson at the Truman Day Dinner and I wonder if any of them knew who Harry Truman was; I do know one thing, if they knew who Harry Truman was, they surely didn’t approve of or like him.

David Hayes is little more than a walking embarrassment with no understanding of public policy and is utterly lacking in the first legitimate credential to serve on the Knoxville City Council.  While Hayes claims at age 26 he has devoted himself to the community, that is apparently a more polite explanation for hardly holding a job and giving back to our community in the form of attending protests of one kind or another.  See it with your own eyes; go to The Daily Focus, www.knowfocus.com, to view a video clip of David Hayes on the University of Tennessee campus stating what he thinks about our country when he starts a chant, “&*#$ that flag!”  One spectator simply just says what is obvious, “You hate this country.”  Most of you reading this have gone to work daily to feed your families and pay your bills.  Apparently not Mr. Hayes, who, having given himself to the community, wanders from protest to protest.

As the guest of State Representative Gloria Johnson, Amelia Parker did not participate when most Democrats stood to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  Even former President Barack Obama, who complained of some Americans’ attachment to “their God and guns,” would place his hand over his heart when need be.  Not Parker, who evidently thinks a makeover and a more subdued rhetoric is the key to winning a seat on the city council after a failed bid two years ago.  Parker dropped the “F bomb” on the city council during a public meeting when she tied former State Representative Harry Tindell for the right to face Lauren Rider in the general election.

Class warfare can never be confused with classy behavior and Parker’s disappointment with Council’s decision to give the nod to Tindell was both palpable and understandable.   Parker launched a write-in campaign for the general election I will be the first to admit she won an impressive number of write-in votes, but she still ran dead last in her race.  Lauren Rider won easily.

David Hayes has little, if any experience in making a living and providing for his family, but is asking for the opportunity to spend tax dollars, your tax dollars that you work hard for.  Parker is, as far as I can tell, quite intelligent, but all of these candidates have no experience in running anything remotely successful.  Keep in mind, a city government is like a business and no business can give out more handouts without somebody footing the bill.

Largely socialist governments across the United States (and yes, there are some) have managed to pretty much destroy their communities in a relatively short period of time.  In fact, that ability seems to be their lone super power.  Homelessness has yet to be solved in any of the locales where socialist candidates have been serving up steaming, heaping helpings of rainbow stew; quite to the contrary.  Despite frequent sightings of the usually elusive occasional unicorn, the homelessness problems in places like Seattle and Los Angeles are spilling over into suburban neighborhoods and making life a living hell for most everybody with drug use rampant and crime on the rise.

There is barely an iota of difference between all these candidates, those officially part of the City Council Movement and their allies Indya Kincannon and Gloria Johnson.  It is certainly true Kincannon is a limousine liberal and an elitist, but she desperately needs to appear to be “of the people” or at the very least, interested in people aside from herself.  Kincannon does have one big political commonality with the City Council Movement folks; her idea of formulating a budget is simply asking for more money to spend.  That was her record on the Knox County Board of Education; ask anybody who served with her or who served on the Knox County Commission.  Kincannon and Jim McIntyre were there every year to ask for more money, nor did Kincannon complain when McIntyre overspent the budget by some $30 million in two short years’ time.

If you haven’t voted, get out and vote.  Whether you realize it or not, your property rights are already under siege by the current administration and city council.  Who serves on the city council really does matter.  One way or another, most of you will eventually figure that out.