In a new opinion piece published by The Daily Beast, Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) and Lucas Kunce, the latter of whom is a leading Democratic candidate to challenge Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in next year’s elections, blasted the ideals the Missouri Republican has been claiming to promote as essentially a hollow front.
Hawley has been on a bender of urging a return to so-called masculinity, but his version of it is a sham. As Kunce and Auchincloss outlined, the political positions that Hawley has staked have undercut many opportunities for success for the young men he’s supposedly trying to somehow support. Whether it’s fighting the infrastructure spending package that stood to provide jobs in construction and related industries around the country or trying to claw back health care benefits through actively challenging the Affordable Care Act in court, Hawley’s record, though not always successful, is consistently destructive. According to the opinion piece’s arguments, Hawley was also instrumental in the removal of opportunities for overtime protections for hundreds of thousands of Missouri workers.
Back at the federal level, he also opposed a legislative initiative boosting the domestic production of technological components known as semiconductor chips, which are used in many items. You could even take this line of reasoning to more of an extreme and argue that Hawley has also failed young men in the United States by helping promote the idea of a stolen or at least dubious 2020 presidential election, fostering the culture of self-destructive paranoia and violence that accompanies such conspiracy theories and was exemplified in the Capitol riot but doesn’t end there.
“You can’t be serious about the challenges confronting America’s men while kneecapping them every chance you get,” the Democrats argued. “Barking orders at men at the latest manhood summit isn’t a serious solution. Real leaders don’t tell people what to do, anyway. Marine Corps leadership—as we were taught—is about empowering others through example, tools, and training. In this case, giving everyday Americans what they need to accomplish their mission.” One example is supporting unions and the expansion of educational opportunities outside the established system of four-year college programs.
“There’s nothing manly about going on Fox News and lying directly to the very people you’re claiming to fight for,” Kunce and Auchincloss said. “There’s nothing manly about opposing good jobs and health care for working families. And there’s certainly nothing manly about running away from a mob you helped incite.” Read more at this link.
