Sports Have Their Mussolini

Rights in America are on their deathbed.  One of the undertakers, eager to size up the coffin, is Senator John McCain, who wishes to unleash fascist nanny-statism on the world of sports, as explained in this ESPN article and this interview.  In other words, he wants to impose federal regulations on boxing and baseball, and on sports-related enterprises, so that they might conform to his idea of how they ought to run.

Let's refresh ourselves on the meaning of the most sacred right, the right to liberty.  It means that each and every man has the right to decide for himself what is best for his life, and then act accordingly.  He accepts the consequences, good or bad, for his actions.  His only obligation to others is that he not violate their rights by initiating force against them.

If Senator McCain was a man concerned with protecting rights, he would realize that those who run Major League Baseball have a right to set their own policies concerning the use of performance-enhancing drugs.  But McCain is apparently a fascist.  He does not want the responsibility of running the league, but does demand that they run things right, or he will swoop in and impose legislation upon them.

If Senator McCain cared about the legacy of the Founding Fathers, he would realize that all men, including boxers, can choose to enter into arrangements with other men, and then deal with the consequences.  But again, McCain loves fascism more than freedom.  He does not wish to make boxing a nationalized operation, but he does want a national boxing commission to fight the "exploitation" of healthy young men capable of rational thought, by regulation and decree.

The good senator also has a mind to go after evil supplements used by athletes, by telling manufacturers how to label and advertise their products.  He also wants to skip regulating, and go straight to the proscribing of gambling on college games.  I hope the pattern is clear by now.  McCain is doing his best to make sure the world of sports has its own Mussolini, ruling with an iron fist, while claiming that he is the one that makes the games start on time.

I am not claiming here that what McCain is doing is new or unprecedented.  Many, if not all states have boxing commissions.  Pharmaceutical companies have to lie prostrate before the FDA.  Baseball has faced threats of government intervention before in regards to labor disputes.  What is sad here is how fawning the ESPN article is.  McCain is never questioned on why the government should play the role he envisions.  All that is discussed is whether his agenda is politically feasible, or whether politicians with other interests will thwart it.  Fascism is accepted, rights are noticeably absent from the discussion.  Maybe the interviewer did not wish to discuss the dead.

(Note to Objectivists: check out the name of the author who wrote the ESPN article.)