Tennessee WordSmith: A Liberal Dose, Dec. 19, 2024 "The Hand You Hold Is the Hand That Holds You Down"

A Liberal Dose

December 19, 2024

Troy D. Smith

“The Hand you Hold Is the Hand That Holds You Down”

By now, everyone knows about Luigi Mangione and Brian Thompson. Thompson was the CEO of a major insurance company who was assassinated by Mangione while in New York attending a conference. The killer’s identity was a mystery for a few days, although he did leave clues to his motive: he had written the words deny, defend, and depose on the bullet casings left at the scene, words associated with denied insurance claims.

Many people, myself included, were shocked by the public response. Social media was full of posts celebrating the murder, most implying that the victim deserved it and some implying the killer was a hero. Some people, in their posts, recounted their own hardships in dealing with insurance companies, ranging from denied claims to canceled coverage that led to intense pain, suffering, and in some case the death of a loved one. It was immediate, and it was intense. I overheard some people saying similar things out loud.

Many assumed that the killer, once caught, would prove to be a radical leftist (I’m surprised I didn’t hear more references to antifa). However, just like the two people who tried to assassinate Trump, he did not fit the expected stereotype. Mangione grew up in wealth and privilege, a member of a prominent and actively GOP family. His own social media presence has included praise for Joe Rogan, RFK, Jr., J.D. Vance, and Tucker Carlson. The turning point seems to have come when he had a serious surfing injury that led to a permanent back condition and a lot of pain. In other words, he was not an ideological Robin-Hood-like social bandit, as much as some on both the left and right expected him to be one.

Let’s go back to the public response, specifically the large number of people who immediately identified with the killer, demonized the victim, and celebrated the incident. Let me begin by stating categorically that I do not support political violence, nor do I believe anyone has the right -unless they are a legal judge or jury -to weigh in on whether another human being deserves to die. I believe firmly in the use of violence as a last resort to defend oneself or the lives of others, but not as a political statement.

That being said. There is a REASON this act has resonated with so many people, so strongly, and it has nothing to do with political parties. And the reason is this: just about everybody, unless they are independently wealthy, has a story about struggling with the policies laid down by the CEOs and other top executives of the healthcare industry. I’m not talking about the people who work at the hospital, they are tireless, dedicated heroes. I’m not talking about your local insurance agent -I know most of the ones in Sparta personally, and they are great people, many of whom are deeply invested in the community. I’m talking about the people at the top, who make decisions about how to make an extra dollar for themselves and their investors, and whose business decisions lead to suffering for middle-and working-class people. And it makes folks frustrated, and angry. Those feelings are something most people can identify with.

Let’s take that a step further. It’s not just healthcare billionaires that affect your life. Tick off some of the economic issues that make you angry. High gas prices? Oil companies are making record profits. High groceries? Those companies are making record profits. YOU are NOT making record profits. You are struggling to get by, more so every day. Some of you hitched your wagons to the promises of Trump, who said he would lower prices on day one. You might not have been paying attention, but in an interview last week with Time Magazine, Trump backed off on those promises, saying there is little he can do about high prices and he can’t promise to lower them. He also said he can’t promise that his tariffs won’t make prices go up. His pal Elon Musk said that their plans to cut spending will cause a lot of pain in the beginning. Other Republicans are already gearing up to come after your social security and your Medicaid, and your health insurance if you are covered by the Affordable Care Act.

The kind of people I’m talking about used to be called Robber Barons. They have been robbing you your whole life, making grandiose (but hollow) promises and telling you whatever they thought you wanted to hear, all in an effort to take more money out of your pockets and put it into their own, which are already stuffed full.

It is criminal, immoral, and just plain wrong to physically harm those people.

No, friends… you just need to stop voting for them. Watch those prices, folks, and see which way they go.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE