Austrian Econ Geek (and Wrestler!) Glenn "Kane" Jacobs Speaks Out on Possible Senate Bid
As reported for the very first time here by me on May 16, Glenn Jacobs, the wrestler who performs under the name Kane, had the possibility of a GOP Senate primary challenge to Lamar Alexander in Tennessee in the back of his mind.
Kane himself had not yet spoken publicly about it, but he now has, and in this Daily Caller article (mentioned earlier on Reason 24/7 and our Hit and Run A.M. links) he reveals why libertarian movement types might find him the best senator ever:
Jacobs says he's always been interested in politics, but it wasn't until around 2004 that he began reading economists of the libertarian "Austrian school" such as Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard. He calls Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson "one of the best books anyone can read," and also cites von Mises' Human Actionand Rothbard's Man, Economy, and State as personal favorites. And after listening to Jacobs talk for a while, it becomes apparent that, somewhere along the way, this leather mask-wearing pro-wrestler, who is famous for performing something called a "chokeslam" on his opponents, became a full-blown libertarian nerd.
"My interest in economics just basically comes because I think I'm a curious person, and I'm interested in how the world works,….
"The problem with Keynesianism is that we are not, human beings, are not numbers," he continues. "We're not atoms that bounce around without free will. Human beings have individual choice, we have free will, and we make decisions, and that's what Austrian economics takes into account."