If the United States government operated more like a sporting event, would we have as much trouble coming to a consensus on the pressing issues of the day? If the government was more like sports, would people dish out millions, if not billions of dollars in an election year to make sure that their candidate wins? Would they even care who won? I would hope not, and let me explain why.
Being that I’m a hockey fan, I’ll use that for my example. Hockey has a set of rules, which states what the players can and cannot do. Both teams know the rules when they step out onto the ice, and therefore can be reasonably assured that if they follow the rules, the referee won’t penalize them. Games always begin and end the same way, with a 0-0 tie score at the beginning and a winner and a loser at the end (fine, they can tie too, let’s not get too technical with this analogy). After the game, the players shake hands and leave the arena happy in knowing, win or lose that they played, and the referees called, a fair game.
So what does this have to do with government? The federal government has its own set of rules, just like hockey does. It’s called the United States Constitution. It tells the government what it can and cannot do (just in case you need a refresher, click here for the Ninth and Tenth Amendments). The decisions that our federal elected officials make should follow rules from no other document, nor be interpreted to fit one’s personal interests. The same goes for hockey. You wouldn’t expect the referees to call the game according to another sport’s rules, in favor of one team or another for any reason, or based on the crowd’s reaction, would you?
Why then should we have to worry about what candidate gets elected to office? They’re all reading the same rule book aren’t they?
It sounds great in theory, but in reality, officials rarely ever follow the rules 100% of the time. Both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of voting for laws, not because they’re constitutional, but because the law either promotes their idea of what the country should be, or they feel political pressure to vote for a “politically correct” law.
Can you imagine how awful it would be to watch a hockey game if there were equally spineless hockey referees that called the game (and ultimately determined its outcome) based on the intensity of the fan’s cheers or boos? There wouldn’t be any point in watching the game, because I can tell you right now that the home team would always win. No matter how dirty the home team played, or how well the visiting team played this would always be true. Unfortunately the same is true in politics. Politicians, for the most part vote based on the political cheers and boos, and not based on the rules like they’re supposed to.
Ben Franklin once said “when the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” This will be caused by spineless politicians who fail to adhere to the rules of the “game”, as outlined in the Constitution. Instead they will adhere to the voices of the majority in order to increase their odds of being re-elected under the guise of doing what’s best for the country. Not only isn’t this good for the country, it’s actually dangerous.
Liberals have been constantly advocating against the recent war in Iraq, while at the same time voting for unjust and unconstitutional laws. If they keep getting their way, and if history does in fact repeat itself, “the tree of liberty [will] be refreshed…with the blood of patriots and tyrants” (Thomas Jefferson). It’s ironic that the ones advocating peace now could be the ones inciting violence later, isn’t it?
Let’s put all self interests aside, and just play by the rules.
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