Avoid pissing contests with skunks

© 2016 Jim Spence - There is an old saying. Don’t get into a pissing contest with a skunk. You both will get hit, and the skunk will like it.

For several decades the GOP found itself in battle with progressive skunks. GOP politicians have never quite known how to deal with them, since outside of Fox News the progressive skunks have thousands of friends in the media. In short, these progressive bullies have gotten their way in America for some time now with very few cultural victories had by those who dare to challenge them.

Along comes Donald Trump. The first thing Trump did in his new career as a politician last year was to engage in high profile pissing contests with Republican candidates. Both Trump and his targets seem to have gotten hit, but Trump liked it and he won easily. Not sure? Just ask Jeb Bush.

Before we explore the latest pissing contest between Trump and NFL players and teams who held the mistaken notion they could get political at football games without being called out, there are some things about the NFL that most people do not know. The NFL made a deal with Obama’s Defense Department a few years back to “Support the Troops.” The Defense Department handed over tens of millions of dollars to NFL owners to “stage shows” of their patriotism in the hopes for the D.O.D. that it would be easier to recruit. Before these deals were made, many NFL teams stayed inside during the playing of the national anthem to talk strategy. However, once the taxpayer money went into NFL coffers, the NFL made it mandatory that every player be on the field during the anthem. Essentially, the NFL sold images of players applauding military heroes, who were introduced prior to the anthem. So.......just in case you think the NFL decided to be a little more patriotic on its own, think again. They got paid to put on a show. And a portion of this money ultimately made its way into the pockets of the players in the revenue sharing deals their union made with the owners. Only in America can you sell faux patriotism at an enormous profit.

If there is one thing that we can all agree on it is this: Trump loves to fight. And the NFL, which wanted to have things both ways, finally got called out on its incredible hypocrisy. Trump, like many of us, became disgusted with the politicizing of football. But unlike the rest of us, Trump is in a position to expose the way in which the players and the teams wanted to litigate their partisan politics right before kickoffs.

The clueless NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and about 150 clueless players took the bait yesterday. However, not every player took the bait. It seems that Pittsburgh Steeler coach Mike Tomlin wanted every Steeler to stay in the locker room yesterday to avoid the "appearance" of being involved in a pissing contest. It was sort of a pissing, without actually claiming you are pissing sort of strategy. Tomlin wanted to do a passive-aggressive piss at the national anthem, if you will. Apparently, the consensus to do this was REJECTED by U.S. Army veteran Alejandro Villanueva. Villanueva, a Steeler, was not having any of it. The three Afghanistan-tour veteran left the Steeler locker room by himself, and stood visibly in the tunnel with his hand over his heart while the anthem played. The image was startling and not at all what the would be pissers in the NFL wanted to see. It was however, precisely what pisser in Chief Trump wanted to see. The progressive Democrat media is going berserk with this battle as is Fox. 

Rest assured Trump is going to win this tussle. The NFL was already suffering from declining ratings thanks to its politicizing. Now the NFL finds that the spotlight is shining brightly on what they have been doing. And instead of the players finding more appropriate forums for expressing their political views, they have doubled down on stupidity with more than 150 scurrying out into the open.

Watch how free markets work here. Contrary to what the players think, nobody “has to” watch the NFL games and nobody “has to” buy a ticket to watch them live. The markets are about to teach the NFL that it is not “entitled” to scoop billions of dollars out of the U.S. economy. Instead, the NFL must re-earn customer loyalty. Predictions?
Watch for season ticket sales to plummet next year. Watch for advertisers to re-think the bloated prices they have to pay to align themselves with the NFL, a venue that is starting to reek. Ad prices on NFL games are going to plunge followed by bids for rights to broadcast the games.
Something about the NFL was starting to stink last year. We all thought it was just Colin Kaepernick. The stench spread. And now the entire NFL, minus Alejandro Villaneuva, smells like a skunk. It would seem that the NFL has chosen to get into a pissing contest with a skunk.

Avoid pissing contests with skunks

Swickard: Political disrespect and making positive change

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.   “I think Dr. King, if he were alive today, he wouldn’t disrespect the flag or the anthem; he would use his words and his voice to send a message for positive change.” Kimberly Guilfoyle

             The National Football League has players who are taking a knee during the national anthem. They are expressing their displeasure with American injustice. Worse, young people who are just imitating these icons are being disrespectful to our country without understanding the issues.

            My response has been to shun them. For this reason, I am not watching NFL games this year. Know this: if a high school or college team has players disrespect our flag and anthem, I will be out of that stadium quickly.

            It is the right of those athletes to make these gestures. And it is my right to not give them any money or attention. Should there be a law against disrespecting our country? No, each of us has free speech rights but we cannot exercise those rights without responsibility for our actions.

            There is only one of me so just one person shunning the NFL will have no effect. Still, it is my choice to respond. They don’t have to even acknowledge my actions.

            I am curious why they think this will address their perceived injustices and make changes. It would seem that we as a nation must make positive changes if our nation is to prosper.

            The world is so much better because of our country and the leaders of our country including the founders. As I wrote previously in this column they were all imperfect people. However, we are better off because of them. But, of course, we can always improve our country.

            In the above quote, there is the thought that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have used his words, his voice to make a positive change. I like that. We do need positive change in this society that has fallen into the grasp of hate speech and fake news.

            Dr. King died in 1968. Unfortunately, his greatest thought seems to be forgotten: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

            These protests and much of the politics of our society today is about the color of skin and not the content of character. We do have voices telling us the way to make our country better.

            Morgan Freeman said, “Dr. Martin Luther King is not a black hero. He is an American hero.” He also said, “I am going to stop calling you a white man and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.”

            That is a direction for change that will make a difference. Let us not divide our country and the people of our county. Rather we need to come together as a nation. We must do so one citizen at a time.

 Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s novel, Hideaway Hills,is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: Political disrespect and making positive change

The market will sort this out

© 2016 Jim Spence - Freedom of speech is a wonderful concept. The reason you know freedom of speech is great, is because the countries you don’t want to visit let alone live in, tend to ban freedom of speech. Not surprisingly, the worst nations on earth employ the harshest punishments whenever someone says something the dictators don’t like.

The 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is pretty simple. It protects American citizens from our government. It reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

How far does the guarantee of freedom of speech go? It is an interesting question to ask. Courts have established the idea that yelling “fire” in a crowded theater and causing a stampede, is not protected speech. However, organizing a political rally and chanting, “Down with this, or down with that,” is protected. The dividing line seems to be when people begin to infringe on the property rights and/or personal safety of others.

Again, because freedom of expression is a delicate matter, the courts almost always side with the citizens instead of the government, unless free speech endangers the safety of others. Of course, rioting protesters who destroy the property of others, are not exercising free speech, they are committing crimes.

This brings us back to the increasing presence of the culture war in America. Half the players on Baltimore and Jacksonville took a knee this morning before the game in London. It seems that the NBA and NFL think it is OK for players to exercise freedom of expression……sometimes. Taking a knee during the national anthem is OK, but certain forms of celebration, say after scoring a touchdown etc. is deemed illegal. 

It is important to remember that sporting events are not peaceable assemblies, they are entertainment events with customers paying to be there. Interestingly, the NFL players union has decided that players decisions to engage in political protest during the national anthem should be protected.

Let’s be clear about the customers here. Tens of millions of people find the taking of a knee during the national anthem to be offensive, just as tens of millions of people find both racist rhetoric and race baiting rhetoric offensive.

Do players have the right to offend during the course of business with customers? Do private businesses have the right to fire people for exercising freedom of speech, if the exercise itself financially damages their business? We are not talking about a government attempting to ban free speech……we are talking about private sector interests being allowed to protect their interests by keeping their customers happy with the overall business transaction/entertainment experience. These are interesting questions.

The courts have held that businesses have the right to fire people for offending their customers. ESPN fired Curt Schilling because he tweeted, not during a broadcast, but on his own time, the idea that he thinks men should pee and poop in the men’s room.

The point here is actually pretty simple. Americans all have a right to offend our elected officials, but Americans also have the right to protect their businesses from moron employees who insist on offending the customers. This explains why Colin Kaepernick does not have a job. He runs off customers in droves. If I have an employee who runs off my customers, I am going to fire that person.

It is going to be fun to watch all of this play out. NFL and NBA owners have shown themselves to be quite tolerant of political speech being inserted into their business relationships with customers. We will see how far this goes now that it looks like the NFL is finally starting to pay a price for allowing millionaire employees to question the fundamental fairness of American citizens who are sitting in the stands with expensive ticket stubs in their pockets.

Never one to keep his mouth shut, Donald Trump has weighed in. He suggested that employees who offend customers should be fired for doing so. Sounds like Trump is siding with the customers. And the response from both the NBA and the NFL was swift. It seems that when it comes to answering the question of whether or not America is basically fair, the debate is on and the NFL thinks the national anthem is a suitable forum. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who makes about $15,000 per concussion each season, suggests that it is Trump who is divisive. This seems strange. Trump is simply suggesting that the players who insist that America is unfair actually created the "divide." Trump has sided with the tens of millions of fans who are offended because they think all in all, America is pretty darned fair.

How did we get here? Essentially, these cultural wounds were healing nicely until Mr. Obama came along. Obama’s primary emphasis in governing was to encourage socialists to use phony racism accusations as battering rams against anyone resisting the failed policies of socialism. It looks like the cancer of the Obama era is in stage four in America. It is my prediction that professional sports businesses that allow millionaire employees to offend their patrons, will find that their businesses deteriorate. It is already happening. A steady decline from here seems imminent because no business can allow its employees to routinely insult the intelligence of its customers without paying a steep price.

What should we do? Let's sit back and watch. Let the whining millionaires galvanize around freedom of expression during the course of business, and let the customers who disagree, weigh alternative entertainment options. The free market for expensive tickets and commercial laden television broadcasts will sort this out, just like the market sorted out the competing views in the 2016 election. It is now the NFL and NBA that want to sew politics into the fabric of their businesses. We shall see how that works out for them.

The market will sort this out

The party of slavery

© 2016 Jim Spence - Tim Daughtry wrote a great piece on the Townhall website earlier this week on “liberal privilege.” My take was a somewhat different, though I will borrow heavily from his intellectual blueprint.

Significant cultural changes are afoot in America. The NFL’s television ratings, seen as invincible just two years ago, are in free fall. I must admit I am not a participant in the quiet NFL boycott taking place, despite being personally disgusted with the behaviors of a few freshly minted millionaires trying to convince us of the victim con.

An interesting question is: What is happening to the NFL? The answer is pretty simple. Activists in the NFL, with assists from idiots like ESPN’s Jemele Hill, speak of “white privilege” and “white supremacy.” In trying to con us, they engage in relentless attacks on the fairness of America’s fundamental culture. Astonishingly, it does not seem the least bit contradictory for people like Marshawn Lynch and Colin Kaepernick to rake in astronomical salaries, while claiming that they are the poor victims of racism. It is no wonder that ticket buyers and TV viewers are growing tired of the non-stop assault narrative that accuses the same Americans who make people like Kaepernick, Lynch, and Hill rich, of being inherently racist and unfair.

In one of the 21^st Century’s greatest ironies, American Democrats, in their blind hatred of Donald Trump, continue to advocate more strongly than ever, policies that promote government-mastered slavery. Favoring public policies that defy basic freedoms by controlling what everyone else does, including what they have, what they say, and what they think is the cornerstone of Democrat thinking. Like the Democratic Party founders, the plantation owners of the south, 21^st Century Democrats also do not want to encounter opinions that contradict theirs. And to counteract those who do not want to be enslaved, Democrats try to brand every non-Democrat a racist or sexist. Comically, in Democratic primaries, Democrats resort to calling each other racists too. In the Obama vs. Clinton power struggle of 2008, the Clintons were branded racist. After all they were white, and in the party of slavery power struggle, they had the gall to criticize Obama and question his dubious credentials.

Since these absurdly dishonest Democrat tactics have stopped working in national elections, Democrats are now resorting to violence and destruction of the property of others to squelch free speech that opposes their effort to impose total control on people who want freedom. In a sense, Democrats think they should be your judge, your jury, and your executioner. As such, they will resort to violence, or at least look the other way while others who feel as they do, perpetrate violence. Democrats justify their ignoring of violence by other Democrats by virtue of seeing themselves as morally superior. It is the classic end justifies the means that takes place in all dictatorships.

Democrats feel because they are morally superior (like plantation owners did) that they alone should be charged with establishing the standards by which others must live. Democrats feel they should be free to criticize others……however any criticism of a Democrat is evidence of irredeemable moral flaws (i.e. racism, sexism, etc.). It is a not so cleverly disguised intellectual protection racket they run for their own benefit.
High profile Democrats constantly claim to hold exclusive title to the moral high ground, simply because they condemn the use of fossil fuels and support gun control. These same people (Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio etc.) have gigantic carbon footprints flying here and there in their private jets, while living in huge energy-glutton mansions. They also flank themselves with armed body guards 24 hours a day.

Democrats routinely brand all black Republicans as Uncle Toms. They also find it completely fair to engage in character assassinations of all prominent GOP women. However, they think all Democrat blacks and women should be off limits to any criticism. Any questioning of the hypocrisy of any Democrat who is female or black is proof of the racism and/or sexism of the questioner. This is text book delusion for the party of slavery.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Democrats continuing to embrace the false intellectual tenets that formed the foundations for trying to justify slavery, is that they want to be judged by how they feel, not by the results produced by their policies. Democrats find basic outcome analysis to be tedious. They want the stated “intent” of their hopelessly failed social policies to matter, not the fact that their policies actually impoverish and enslave people. Accordingly, no matter how severely Democratic policies have harmed black families, Democrats continue to disavow the results of what they do while pushing for more of the same. The destruction of the black family by Democrats is blamed on “racism” and America’s fundamental unfairness, instead the root cause, which is Democrat's insistence on being the masters of the modern U.S. plantation.

Democrats also demand utter control of an educational system that mass produces students who cannot read nor do basic math with any proficiency. The most essential points of American history are not taught in Democrat run schools, including the fact that Democrats have always been the party of slavery. It is clear that this fact is intentionally hidden, lest the students connect the dots and realize that nothing has changed except the narratives in the Democrat’s manipulative rhetoric. The party of slavery understands that the best way to hide the fact that they are anti-freedom, is to accuse their opponents of precisely what Democrats are actually guilty of. Yes Democrats favor indoctrination masked as public education, to continue to hold people in government-sponsored slavery. Government has simply replaced the plantation owner as the new “master.”

Not everyone gets it. The grossly flawed Donald Trump represents the antithesis to everything the party of slavery stands for, while the GOP Senate kind of likes being masters too, though they would never admit it.

The party of slavery

The saddest thing of all

© 2016 Jim Spence - It would seem that the Republican-controlled Senate is going to make one final run at repealing and replacing Obamacare. We will see if Senate Republicans have any sense of duty. The current proposal being pushed by Lindsay Graham and others is much better than nothing. However, only time will tell whether people like Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, John McCain, and Susan Collins will vote for “improvement,” or continue to sacrifice an improvement, because it is less than perfect. I for one have no faith in these people.

In the meantime consider one of the most profound descriptions of what Barack Obama considers his signature achievement (Obamacare). The description goes something like this:

Obamacare is an onerous law passed by a Democrat-dominated United States government, that requires EVERY adult U.S. citizen to PROVE they bought health insurance.

At the same time that Obamacare was passed by these Democrats, Mr. Obama issued a decree to law enforcement that instructed officials to NOT require every adult living in the U.S. to prove they were a citizen.

Allow these facts to soak in for a moment. If you are citizen you must PROVE you bought health insurance or be heavily fined. However, if you are not a citizen, and are living here in the U.S. in direct violation of federal law, you get a complete pass.

It is not just Barack Obama who was whacked out enough to think this is fair. Democrat dominated city councils and county commissions, including several in New Mexico (Las Cruces, Santa Fe, etc.), think this is fair. The people running Las Cruces, not only believe that the health insurance proof requirement on all citizens is good policy, they also believe that adults living here illegally, who refuse to prove they are citizens, should be allowed to completely ignore our immigration laws.

There is an even greater irony in this. Democrats think people living here illegally should be entitled to receive free health insurance that is paid for by those who are forced to buy over-priced health insurance, simply because they are U.S. citizens. Let that sink in.

It would seem that Americans have been letting it sink in. Working people voted for Donald Trump, not necessarily because they liked him, but because they had grown very tired of this sort of hypocrisy from Democrats.

Despite everything that gets reported as "news" at places like ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, and even ESPN, millions of working people truly hate what Democrats are doing to them.

Of course there are many places where people vote Democrat like robots…..places like Las Cruces and Santa Fe. Democrat voting robots don’t care that New Mexico has more people collecting welfare and other giveaways from the state and federal government……..than this state has people actually WORKING and paying taxes. New Mexico voted for Barack Obama twice. And in doing so New Mexico voted to fundamentally transform America. The Democrat's idea is to punish workers and reward a complete absence of productivity. Both of our U.S. Senators embrace this philosophy. Why are 95 million adults not working? Because they don't have to.

Amazingly, the Republicans in the U.S. Senate are not sure they should do anything to reverse any of these atrocious national trends. That is certainly the saddest thing of all.

The saddest thing of all

Most Democrats defend, protect, and promote, National Socialists

© 2016 Jim Spence - A couple of deeply disturbing incidents on college campuses in America recently, have illuminated problems that have been festering in America for several decades. These incidents demonstrate how badly America is failing when it comes to preserving our basic freedoms and our fundamental way of life. It is difficult to imagine how.....with everything that is going on.....it will end well for us.

Incident #1) A Conservative Jewish political activist, Ben Shapiro made a speech last Thursday night at the University of California Berkeley. A hostile crowd estimated at more than 1,000 outside the speaking venue chanted slogans and cheered counter-speakers who denounced Mr. Shapiro as a get this………”fascist.” Four people were arrested outside the hall where Shapiro spoke for bringing weapons into a six-block zone near the hall, which was heavily patrolled by campus officers and Berkeley police.

The protesters were as ignorant as can possibly be imagined. They carried signs calling the Jewish Ben Shapiro, a Nazi. Calling a Jew a Nazi is um....astonishingly ignorant and stupid. The media completely legitimized this group.

Incident # 2) Recently, a Princeton Constitution Day Lecture was titled, ”‘Fuc_ Free Speech.” It seems that Princeton professor Carolyn Rouse stated that we should………get this…..“Rethink academic freedom and academic values” and that “The way in which free speech is being celebrated in the media makes little to no sense anthropologically. Put simply, speech is costly,” Rouse said. “So, contrary to the ACLU’s statement on their website regarding the role of free speech on college campuses, the academy has never promoted free speech as its central value.” She called for bureaucracy to determine what can and cannot be said. The media looked the other way.

The objective of the Democrat protesters in incident #1 and the Democrat college professor from Princeton in incident #2, are the sort of people that receive political cover every day from elected Democrats and their friends in the media. Let's get to the point here. Democrats are National Socialists. They demand a system where our national government be allowed to control every aspect of life. And they also repeatedly call for free-market capitalism to be completely dismantled. Again, let's call this what it is.......THIS IS NATIONAL SOCIALISM.

For these Democrats to claim that anyone voicing objections to their national-socialism philosophy should be stifled and squelched is scary. And even worse, for these views, which are treated as "mainstream" everyday at universities and media outlets everywhere in America, are perfect examples of the rise of EXTREME NATIONAL SOCIALISM in America.

The uneducated don't have a clue what national socialism actually is. Let me help. Be reminded of a nation in central Europe that hated “capitalist” Jewish business people and also opposed free speech that was not regulated by the higher ups. Once these types gained control in that nation they took care of capitalist Jews and not just the pesky activists like Ben Shapiro. The took care of all Jews. I won’t bother to list the names of the camps they sent the Jews to who thought just like Shapiro.

It is a strange thing. I never thought I'd see the day when American campus bullies, dressed in black uniforms with hoods, and carrying dangerous weapons, would be coddled by Democrats. These stiffs actually throw around terms like "Nazi" to describe Jewish Americans who disagree with them.

Let's not mince words here. Most Democrats defend, protect, and promote the same sort of national-socialism these Democratic Party thugs do.

Most Democrats defend, protect, and promote, National Socialists

Are there any leaders in the GOP Senate?

© 2016 Jim Spence - There has been so much written about how disappointing the GOP leadership in Washington has been since the inauguration. There has been no shortage of finger-pointing, but those of us who pay attention know where the problem lies.

Many of us were in the camp that was most skeptical about whether or not Donald Trump would do what he said he would do after the election. No longer. Trump's appointment of Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court was very reassuring. And his policy proposals have been pretty much spot on. Trump has erased many of the dictator-like executive orders issued by Obama, who issued “decrees” in lieu of actually following the constitution and passing laws through Congress. Trump for the most part has been the freshest breath of air we have seen in thirty years.

It is Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan who have failed America….especially McConnell. McConnell has been so ineffective that anything Paul Ryan has managed to get done in the House has either been held up or voted down in the Republican controlled Senate. This is a failure of leadership pure and simple.

The big question is this: Do GOP Senators have any idea how mad GOP voters are at them? It seems doubtful. The things coming out of the mouths of people like Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, and John McCain suggest there is not only a disconnect between these self-important chumps and their own constituencies, but also a feeling held by them that they are immune from all scrutiny. This should not be.

How would we possibly know if there is any life left in the U.S. Senate where every possible improvement in America goes to die? You would see Mitch McConnell thrown out of the leadership post on his backside.

Are there any real leaders in the GOP Senate? Even one? For the time being the answer has to be a resounding NO.

Are there any leaders in the GOP Senate?

Swickard: More money attracting festivals

© 2017 Michael Swickard, Ph.D.   One morning in my coffee shop, we convened our own Chamber of Commerce. Business has been slow in our little slice of heaven so we needed to come up with some ways to induce folks to come and spend dollars.

            We really didn’t want lots of people to move here and clog up the roads and stores. Rather, we would like people to come, spend money and then go home.

            I took out a piece of paper to jot down ideas. One person said that the way to make money was to have all sorts of festivals such that out-of-towners came and spread cash around.

            I mentioned that Roswell had the Aliens Festival. We pondered that moneymaker. When I mentioned to one of the leading citizens in Roswell that the alien story was suspect, he said, “But they bring hundred-dollar bills.” Then he smirked.

            Many years ago I wrote a column about that Roswell Smirk. We could have that smirk if we could just invent a good festival.

            First, there could be Dust Day in March and April. Southern New Mexico is noted for the dust storms, maybe we could get people to come. Probably not. I have thought that instead of a Rain Meter, I should invent a Dust Meter. After a two-day windstorm, it would show 1.3 inches of dust was in the air.

            We were going well and the ideas flowed like coffee. There was Waffle Days on the first Tuesday of November to coincide with the elections. The agricultural members offered: Pig Days, Chicken Days, Cow Days, Goat Days… the group paused.

            From one table over a vegetarian offered Tofu Days which was followed by Road-Kill Days. No interest in either. More practical was Rusty Old Cars Days, Bow Tie Days, Halitosis Days which brought out Onion Days.

            Two months of every year about fifty percent of the onions consumed in our country come from Southern New Mexico. That festival could be sponsored by one of the many mouthwash companies.

            Horned Toad Days were offered along with Siesta Days. I was in favor of that. I have never been disappointed in a good old afternoon nap. There was Nothing Much Happening Days but that didn’t get a second.

            One of the coffee drinkers pointed out, “We don’t need days, we need nights for festivals. During the days, we are all working other than our coffee breaks.”

            That caused the conversation to slow down because one person pointed out that having something at night was fine as long as they could get home by nine, which is their bedtime. There was an early to bed, early to rise comment which we all knew was true.

            Let us reason together as to more festivals in our area to pick up any stray tourist dollars. Send me via this news outlet your ideas.

            Something like Geezer and Geezerette Days might just be the money ticket. I would fit in. Consider that the fifty-yard amble could make the evening news.

 Email: drswickard@comcast.net - Swickard’s novel, Hideaway Hills,is available at Amazon.com 

Swickard: More money attracting festivals

Is America the land of the free and the home of the brave?

© 2016 Jim Spence - Millions of people all around the world want to come and live in America. Thousands have died trying to do so. Tens of millions of people already live here illegally, daring to break our immigration laws for a shot at the American dream.

So the questions begs, why are scores of black NFL and NBA players refusing to respect the national anthem? Ostensibly, it is because these men feel the nation is over-run with white supremacists and bad cops. Let’s think about the national anthem these millionaires have such a big problem with.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" lyrics come from "Defence of Fort M'Henry," which is a poem written two hundred and three years ago. The author, Francis Scott Key, was a witness to the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships in my home town Baltimore, Maryland during the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the large American flag, the Star-Spangled Banner, flying above the fort. Most Americans do not know the song was not made the national anthem until March 3, 1931. Most people do not know that just yesterday a Francis Scott Key statue was desecrated by people who are not enamored with America.

The final two lines of the song’s first stanza are worthy of discussion.

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

It would seem that more than a few black NFL and NBA players do not feel that America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. They join many others in the Democrat Party who feel the same way.

It seems to me that those who refuse to honor America with a simple show of respect, make a glass is “half empty” versus glass is “half full” argument about our country, including its legacy.

Below are a few relevant questions regarding what are the most significant facts regarding America’s legacy?

• Is the fact that starting about twenty-four generations ago and ending about seven generations ago, white European slave traders went to Africa and bought black men and women, who were captured and sold into slavery by other blacks, and re-sold to white Americans among the most important facts we should know about America’s past?
• Is the fact that 500,000 white men fighting on the Union side died to free slaves six generations ago, one of the most important facts in American history?
• Is the fact that all the white owners in major League Baseball refused to hire black players in America until the late 1940’s more important than the fact that all owners stopped this practice three generations ago……right after Branch Rickey showed them how stupid they were?
• Is the fact that TODAY the vast majority of white, male-owned investment firms are barred by law from managing public funds in places like Illinois and other Democrat dominated states the basis by which we should judge America?
• Is the fact that today Asian-American students have to sue dozens of universities all over America for equal admissions treatment, because black and Hispanic students are admitted with lower academic credentials based merely on their ethnicity, proof that 21^st Century America is inherently anti-Asian?

Race, race, race. This is all Democrats want in the dialogue except in places like Illinois or in the admissions departments at many major universities. Stoking black and Hispanic paranoia is the goal. This is how you get and keep people to tolerate the scourge of big-government socialism.

The ultimate point here is simple. America is nowhere near perfect. Anyone with a lick of sense already knows this. However, black NFL and NBA players who think America’s glass is half-empty are half-wits. America's fairness glass is more than half full. It is much more than half full. NFL players are paid just under $2 million per year on average. In the NBA the average salary is almost $6.4 million. There are freshly minted millionaires coming into the NFL, the NBA, and in other entertainment industries each year. The list of successful blacks and Hispanic Americans is long and deep. 

Consider the diversity implications of these facts. Only thirteen percent of America’s population is black. Whites make up sixty-three percent of the population. Yet nearly seventy percent of all NFL players are black and nearly seventy-five percent of all NBA players are black. This means blacks are five to six times more likely to secure these incredibly high paying jobs as their overall population numbers would suggest. Whites obtain about one third to one half of the representation in these jobs that their population numbers suggest. The numbers for Asians is astonishingly low.

One of the ways you know there is a racial con going on in America is that we don’t see or hear any of the diversity pimps arguing that the NFL and NBA owners are made up of a bunch of racist black supremacists. And forget about the entertainment industry. No chance.

There is an alternate view to the black supremacist argument, which is of course the correct view regarding business people. All teams in the NFL and NBA want to compete and win. These businesses, like all others, want to survive and prosper. Accordingly, they sign the best players they can get their hands on.

Is America the land of the free? Only a freshly minted multi-millionaire jerk would argue NO, when he or she is free to capitalize on his or her God-given talents and skills developed in.......America. 

Is America the home of the brave? Consider the brave police officers who were murdered in Dallas last year while protecting Black Lives Matters protester’s rights to march and protest. Sadly, it was the pampered, coddled, and violent radicals within the ranks of that evil movement that fomented the murder of the men protecting their rights under……..the constitution.

Ask the question is America the land of the free and the home of the brave at a Democrat Party fundraiser. The eyes will roll. If you persist in asking most will either groan loudly, shout you down, or beat you up.

Is America the land of the free and the home of the brave?