USA Today just got through asking the last three presidential candidates standing about what they felt regarding government and issues of amateur and professional sport. The amount of intervention advocated by all three was alarming to say the least. No matter who is elected, each will be sure that the federal government has a greater role in sports. Take the first statement from Hillary Clinton, which summarizes the root of the problem:
Senator Clinton sees our sports leagues as public trusts and our sports heroes as key public role models for our children, and believes in the importance of promoting clean, drug-free professional sports.
What a sad and, frankly, dangerous statement. Sport is one of the greatest examples of private ventures; with huge risks, incredible competition and individual and team glory. In a lot of ways, sport is a laboratory test for free market principles and the principles of nature. There is incredible diversity of sports, skill levels, ages, specializations, traditions, heroes, villains and public interest.
Sport has had an amazing history of self-regulation, demonstrating that it is always in the best interests of individuals to do those things which ultimately foster good-will, cooperation, safety and bringing out the best in individuals. Sport shows us how competition, despite having winners and losers, is ultimately beneficial to everyone who participates. All who engage in sport, from spectators, players, amateurs, professionals, owners, entrepreneurs are made better off by being consistently pushed (by competition) to go beyond what they believed they were able.
But Clinton does not use the term “public” flagrantly. It is a deliberate statement of ownership - that the collective demos of the United States (or more likely the people in government that represent them) lay the ultimate claim on both the leagues and players. Perhaps sentences including both the words “sports” and “national security” aren’t too far off.
Either way, this is how we get the reckless, unjustified, unconstitutional intervention by the federal government into sports.
One thing McCain said is “The use of [performance-enhancing] substances among adolescents in the U.S. has reached epidemic proportions.” I wonder if that’s really true or whether it’s just hype. I’m guessing hype.
Hey I agree with you 100% on this one. We should start by eliminating all the hundreds of millions of dollars in public money for wet dream sports stadiums that the team owners have blackmailed gutless pandering politicians into using the taxpayers money for.
I agree with bob. Public dollars shouldn’t fund sports arenas. If the sport is profitable the team owners will build appropriate stadiums without taxing the citizens.
agreed bob!