Glenn Jacobs

Glenn Jacobs (b. 26 April 1967) is an American politician. He was elected mayor of Knox County, Tennessee in 2018 as a Republican. He was a libertarian, co-founding the Tennessee Liberty Alliance.

In his wrestling past he was went by his WWE ring name, Kane.

May 2013 interview by Franchi
Quotations from Glenn Jacobs, interviewed by Gary Franchi on WHDT World News 9, "Glenn 'Kane' Jacobs Mental Smackdown of Tennessee Lt Governor," YouTube.com (17 May 2013).


 * Keynesian economics is really just models and numbers and how things would work in a laboratory, not how things work in the real world. The beauty of Austrian economics is [that] it studies how things work in the real world.  Economics is not a predictive science, okay?  You can't say, "If we do this, this is what's gonna happen."  It is a descriptive science; in other words, it describes what's going on.  Austrian economics says the economy runs itself, and all that we're trying to do is understand how the economy really works.
 * 07:20&#8211;08:05.


 * I think, as a society, though, I think more and more people are starting to question this idea that the government can do anything, [that] it has some sort of magical power to solve all of the problems; in fact, I think more and more people are coming to the conclusion that government is the problem.
 * 13:12&#8211;13:32.

Oct 2013 interview by Woods
Quotations from Glenn Jacobs, interviewed by Thomas E. Woods, titled "WWE Wrestler Kane Talks Libertarianism, and His Heroes" on TomWoodsTV, YouTube.com (28 October 2013).


 * Then I realised that it really is a philosophy that we're talking about, you know—the nonaggression axiom, that the government should be bound by the same moral laws that the rest of us are. Once you realise that, you're like, "Oh!"  Your entire world opens up, and then your entire paradigm changes.
 * 05:52&#8211;06:08.


 * There is no way to sort-of compartmentalise human liberty into "okay, I have social liberty and I have economic freedom." No, they're the same thing.  You have—  If you don't have economic freedom, you don't have personal liberty, and vice versa, if you don't have personal liberty, you don't have economic freedom, either.
 * 06:17&#8211;06:34.


 * Once you come across Rothbard, it's all over with. The arguments he makes are so logical and they're so faultless that you really can't disagree with him.
 * 06:55&#8211;07:07.


 * I think nullification would be a very good thing.
 * 13:47&#8211;13:49.


 * He has made more people realise that they're libertarians perhaps than anyone in history with the Ron Paul Revolution and all of the things that it launched.
 * 15:29&#8211;15:40.


 * What is it—medieval serfs paid about twenty-five percent of their crops to the estate lord, to the manor lord, and Americans are paying fifty percent in taxes by the time you figure out income tax and then all the various state and local taxes, and, to think we're not, y'know, overtaxed is insane.
 * 18:57&#8211;19:19.


 * The whole idea, the whole premise of taxation needs to be examined. It's based on theft.
 * 19:20&#8211;19:25.


 * Any tax rate is actually overtaxation.
 * 19:54&#8211;19:56.

Interviewed on The Independents (2014)
Quotations from Glenn Jacobs, interviewed by Matt Welch and Kmele Foster (26 February 2014).


 * The great thing about libertarianism is [that] it really is the American Dream—it is the ability of everybody to live their life, to build their life, according to what they want so long as you don't hurt anybody else.
 * 9:41 P . M.


 * There have been many [libertarian writers who have inspired me]: Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard—just-just a number of people who have influenced me—Mary Ruwart, Harry Browne who ran for president as a Libertarian a couple times—so there've been a number of people.
 * 9:41 P . M.


 * I think libertarianism does appeal to most people because that's how we lead our lives until the state gets involved. We lead our lives in voluntary interactions with other folks, and we follow what libertarians call the nonaggression axiom which means you're not supposed to initiate force against someone else except, of course, in defence of your own liberty or property.  So that's something that's the Golden Rule, and that's something we can all relate to.
 * 9:44 P . M.
 * This quote is effectively a condensed version of Alexander S. Peak's "Libertarianism: Ideology for the Common Man" (15 January 2008), which also references libertarianism's appeal to the common person, voluntary interactions in society, libertarianism's prohibition on initiatory force, and the connection between libertarianism and the Golden Rule.

2016

 * For me, what are you trying to accomplish? You go out and show the world you’re extremely angry? Guess what, sunshine? No one cares. If you want to do something constructive, get out of your echo chamber, get off Facebook and social media where everybody is talking about the same thing you agree with. Stop denigrating and screaming at people you don’t agree with, and go talk with your neighbor who maybe voted for Donald Trump. What you’ll find is they’re not a homophone racist bigot. What they are is generally a common, hard-working decent person who is fed up with a permanent Washington political overclass. They're tired of people in Washington not looking out for their interests.
 * 17 November 2016 interview on Fox Business alongside Dolph Ziggler

2018 victory speech after winning Knox County mayoral race

 * video here

Quotations from Glenn Jacobs's victory speech following his mayoral election as Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee (August 2, 2018).


 * I'd also like to thank my Democratic opponent, Linda Haney. We all know that a Democrat is gonna have a struggle in a countywide race in Knox County, but she did | step up to the plate and she put fourth a good effort, and I think that is admirable. Democracy works when everyone has a voice and we can hear everyone's ideas.
 * 1:14&#8211;1:40.


 * What happens if that big red wall is ever breached? If it is, our state and our country will fundamentally change and we can never, ever let that happen. The Republican Party must remain a bulwark against European democratic socialism which unfortunately the Democratic Party has become. In order top do that we have to grow our party, and we have to grow it among young people and among minorities, we have to become more inclusive, but what I mean by that is we do not abandon our ideas, we need to stand even more firm.
 * 3:16&#8211;4:13.


 * The Republican Party stands for | individual liberty [and] | free markets; its the party of growth, its the part of economic opportunity, those are things that benefit everyone. That's how we need to grow this party, by ensuring that those are the ideas that we are spreading.
 * 4:14&#8211;4:38

2019

 * The problem when you have someone on the hard left or the hard right is they will have to move back to the center in the general election, and I don’t know that Warren can do that as well as Biden could
 * 26 September 2019 on the Democratic primaries

2020

 * Me: The sky is blue. Twitter: No, it's not. Also Twitter: Trump said the sky is blue. He's lying. More Twitter: Sometimes the sky is red. Why do you hate red sky? Even More Twitter: You're stupid because you think the sky is blue. Yet More Twitter: Republicans say the sky is blue. The sky must be a different color. It doesn't matter what color. It just isn't blue. Additional Twitter: Technically, the sky only appears blue due to the atmosphere's charged particles oscillating and scattering the sunlight passing through it. Blue is scattered more than other colors. Hence, the sky's blue hue. Translation: You don't understand science... ...and you're stupid. Have a great day, everyone!
 * 6 August 2020 Tweet series

2021

 * Mr. President, if we, as elected officials, ignore, disregard, and contravene the laws which bind us, how can we expect our fellow citizens to respect and follow the laws which bind all of us as a society? Finally, as an American, I am appalled by your statement; “This is not about freedom or personal choice.” On the contrary, in America, it is always about freedom.
 * 17 September 2021 letter to Joe Biden


 * Along with 54 other Tennessee county mayors and executives, I signed a letter to @GovBillLee @ltgovmcnally @CSexton25 @TNattygen with concerns about @POTUS 's overreach and encouraging them to continue to protect the rights of Tennesseans to make our own health care decisions.
 * 18 October 2021 tweet about letter he signed with other mayors to governor Bill Lee

2022

 * Thanks to @DDPYoga and low carbs for making 55 look (and feel) this good!
 * 30 April 2022 tweet


 * So a federal government agency convinced a private company to shadow ban a story which turned out to be true and had massive implications on a presidential election. This is borderline fascism and should worry everyone.
 * 25 August 2022 tweet


 * Today we remember the 13 service members that tragically lost their lives in Afghanistan. We will never forget their service to our nation. Please continue to keep their families in your prayers.
 * 26 August 2022 tweet