By Robert Dean
Guest Columnist
It’s everyone’s favorite month: June! AKA Gay Pride. And while someone in your life will invariably declare it “straight pride” or quote the Bible, you should probably roll your eyes because who cares? What, two nice men are giving your frumpy wife a makeover or someone at the department store explains why a boxy dress shirt looks awful on you? Move on with your righteousness. Kentuckiana will happen and the boys will be in hot pants, and the ladies will be in baseball caps. No one will get hurt and life will go on. If anything, you know who benefits? Local businesses. I don’t know if you’ve looked around lately, but most of us are broke and could use the cash.
Because there are bigger things to worry about than who is wearing what.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, those USAID cuts we made back in 2025 are now colliding with an Ebola outbreak. The lessons of COVID, Ebola, and every major outbreak is simple: public health is a team sport. An “America First” approach to disease prevention is self-defeating because the fastest way to protect Americans is often to stop an outbreak before it leaves someone else’s backyard. We didn’t get refund checks from those cuts. We didn’t see cheaper groceries. We didn’t see lower rents. What we got was a weaker public health response and more money poured into conflict abroad.
The war with Iran is shaping up to be another expensive mess. The administration thought the regime would fold. It hasn’t. Every day this drags on cost taxpayers money that could be spent solving problems here at home. We don’t have affordable housing. We don’t have universal healthcare. Infrastructure is crumbling in communities across the country. Yet somehow there’s always money available when it’s time to launch missiles.
Inflation is still high. Gas prices still suck. Insurance premiums keep climbing. Rent keeps turning into a bloodsport because most of us can’t afford to buy a home and never will thanks to literally everything being on fire around us all the time. The average person isn’t sitting around wondering about geopolitical strategy.
The system is broken. This isn’t about left or right. It’s a matter of the working class getting hosed while we line up for the next splash. And yet, people are frothing at the mouth in comments sections on Facebook over gay pride festivals? Bro. Grow up. Look at how your Senators smile in your face and deny any meaningful legislation. Carter County doesn’t need another culture war. It needs jobs that let young people stay, affordable housing, and healthcare people can actually afford to use. Yet somehow we’re expected to spend our energy arguing about drag queens instead of asking why so many of our kids leave and never come back.
This is a math problem.
The guy working a double at the plant doesn’t care which political team gave the green light to the predators signing his paycheck or who cut his overtime to save a buck. The woman choosing between insulin and rent isn’t watching Fox or MSNBC — she’s watching her bank account.
The left had their chances and blew them. The right had theirs and handed the bill to the same people they claimed to be fighting for. The working class keeps getting passed around like it’s someone else’s problem, and come election time, both parties will claim they looked out for us. Neither did. Don’t worry about guys in drag. Worry about how we’re getting screwed by the devils you know.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
