A Tale of Two Scandals

Volkswagen built cars that people wanted to buy.  They sold these cars by the hundreds of thousands, such was their popularity.  These cars killed no one – at least not in any manner unique to these cars.  For this, people lost their jobs and Volkswagen faces countless law suits and could easily be put into bankruptcy if it is so deemed by the US government.

Boeing builds planes.  It is possible that design and / or other flaws due to Boeing’s actions or inactions contributed to, if not caused, two of these planes to go down in recent months, killing over 300 people.

Assuming the fault is as currently speculated, let’s see how the US government treats Boeing and its executives.

Football vs Fútbol

I have long wondered about the “why” regarding the differences between American Football and what the rest of the world calls football (i.e. soccer).  American football: so completely regimented and precise; fútbol: very free-flowing and quite uncontrolled. 

This in contrast to what appears on the surface the opposite regarding the political and bureaucratic regimes.  The United States: relatively free-market; Europe and Latin America (where fútbol is most popular): bureaucratic and stifling.

I have never felt satisfied with any answer I have come up with to explain this seeming contradiction; I have never found anything on point upon which I could develop a reasonable hypothesis.  Well, maybe that day has arrived.

Total State/Total Sports, by Dr. Gregory C. Dilsaver.

In this essay, Dilsaver examines the role that organized youth sports indoctrinates people toward being an obedient citizen to a controlling state.  It is a worthwhile read, but I want to focus on one gem that turned a light bulb on for me regarding my quest:

So too, sports inculcate the belief that life is a level playing field, where rules are made up by decree. This is legal positivism, which is the life blood of the Total State, as opposed to God-given natural law, which is the nemesis of the Total State.  (Emphasis added; the light bulb.)

Football vs Fútbol

Before I dive into the history and political theory, I offer a brief examination regarding the differences in the two sports – one very regimented and controlled, the other very free-flowing.  For a mental picture: take someone unfamiliar with either game and plant them in a stadium, one game at a time.  In less than five minutes, he will understand fútbol; in five years, he still may not understand football.

A little detail:

Football: if it means anything, the rule book is 92 pages long.  But this is the simple part.  Why do they call it football?  Rarely does anyone play the ball with his feet.  The play stops and starts; why? A new set of players come in when the team changes from offense to defense to special teams (what’s that?).

Different players come in and out; the formations must follow a prescribed formula; the offense gets four chances to advance the ball ten yards – measured precisely by a chain of ten-yards’ length; when the play goes out of bounds, a precise placement is made of the position; the clock stops and starts with precision – the referee can review and reset the clock; the team has a specific amount of time by which they must begin the next play; there are fouls for dozens of offenses beyond dangerous plays.

Football might be the most regimented popular sport played on the planet; perhaps baseball can be included (another popular American sport) in this category.

Fútbol: there are seventeen Laws of the Game; yes, just seventeen.  Only one of these would offer any confusion to the new fan, the rule of offside: basically, an offensive player must be behind the midfield line or the second-last opponent when the ball is played forward – and then, he is only offside if he is engaged in the play.

As to fouls, basically fouls are called only for dangerous plays.  As to marking the ball for a throw-in, free kick, etc., let’s just say somewhere in the neighborhood is good enough. 

Regarding the clock – it is there merely for general reference.  It is never stopped during the half – if play stops for an extended time (an injured player, for example), the referee just adds on however many minutes he feels appropriate to the end of the half.  Even this added time isn’t set in stone – when the added time expires, the referee will often let a developing play come to some conclusion before blowing the whistle.

There may not be a less regimented popular sport in the world.

The History of Fútbol

Dilsaver’s statement about natural law sent me to the history of fútbol:

The modern rules of association football [fútbol] are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England. The history of football in England dates back to at least the eighth century AD.

Medieval law offers the most extended period of governance by natural law in the west.  This relationship can be seen in the earliest rules (and I use the term loosely) of the sport:

By some accounts, in some such events any means could be used to move the ball towards the goal, as long as it did not lead to manslaughter or murder.

Which is pretty much the same rule today – fouls are called for dangerous play, and that’s about it.

None of the legal positivism that defines American football; none of the regimentation, precision, call it bureaucracy and regulation.  Just natural law: get the ball in the goal, don’t initiate aggression against another player.

Conclusion

In one simple sentence, Dilsaver opened this window for me.  American football conforms perfectly to a society that is indoctrinated in legal positivism – indoctrinated almost from the birth of the nation and the birth of each citizen.

Fútbol conforms to natural law – natural law that was the basis for the medieval law in the lands of fútbol’s birth; natural law that began to shift to legal positivism with the Renaissance and Enlightenment.

I was looking in the wrong place.  I was looking for an explanation of this seeming contradiction in today’s bureaucratic Europe; instead, I should have looked to Europe’s roots, in natural, medieval law.

Until I come across a better explanation, this is the one I will stick with.

The Least Great Generation

…a better title for us would be the Least Great Generation, because that’s what we were.

-        Roger Simon

Roger Simon is author of I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn’t Already.  Simon describes the defining characteristic of this generation not just as narcissistic, but something far more dangerous and pervasive:

That form is moral narcissism—a pathology that underlies the whole liberal left ethic today and some of the right as well.

The Pathology

The short form is this: What you believe, or claim to believe or say you believe—not what you do or how you act or what the results of your actions may be—defines you as a person and makes you “good.”

If your intentions are good, if they conform to the general received values of your friends, family, and co-workers, what a person of your class and social milieu is supposed to think, everything is fine.

It doesn’t matter that they misfire completely, cause terror attacks, illness, death, riots in the inner city, or national bankruptcy.

The pathology is even worse: it includes the certainty of being right…about everything.

The Founding Fathers and Mothers

Simon names names of this Least Great Generation:

We were pre-boomers. I, only a foot soldier in this cohort army, was born in November 1943, but look at the icons: John Lennon, born in 1940; Tom Hayden, in 1939; Abbie Hoffman, in 1936; Gloria Steinem, in 1934; Allen Ginsberg, 1926; and Timothy Leary—apostle of “turn on, tune in, drop out” and virtual patron saint of hippie culture—born in, wait for it, 1920.

The baby boomers merely followed along.

The One

Morpheus: You are the One, Neo. You see, you may have spent the last few years looking for me, but I have spent my entire life looking for you.

This least great generation found their One, also:

The election of Barack Obama was the apotheosis of this melding of lifestyle with political worldview….The “me” generation had found its perfect leader. Hope and change were never specified, because we all knew what he meant.

Peter Berkowitz expands: Symptoms of those afflicted with this most terrible pathology include “intellectual rigidity, self-righteousness, and disdain for those who disagree.”  Climate change; racism and sexism are to be found everywhere; progressive policies on gun control and affirmative action.

Berkowitz, like Simon, also points to Obama:

Citizens, it turns out, do not like to be regarded as “bitter” individuals who “cling to guns or religion or an antipathy to people who aren’t like them,” as Barack Obama, speaking on the 2008 campaign trail, characterized working-class residents of the Rust Belt.

Obama’s defining acts as president offer no benefits to sizeable segments of the American population:

…the Affordable Care Act; a path to legalization for people in the country unlawfully; costly measures to reduce the country’s carbon footprint; and the Iran nuclear deal.

Worse than no benefits…only costs (although I am OK with the Iran nuclear deal).

Conclusion

The reaction is growing throughout the West: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, Brexit and the many nationalist movements in Europe.  Yet, Berkowitz offers hope to those afflicted with this pathology:

The establishment is not without options. By listening to the people’s concerns, understanding their anxieties, and grasping the reasons for their choices, elites could take a significant step in reestablishing that democratic debate on which constitutional self-government depends.

This would require introspection and self-examination; it would require the ability to feel empathy.  Is there any chance of this?

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a long term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of understanding of others' feelings.  People affected often spend a lot of time thinking about achieving power, success, or their appearance. They often take advantage of the people around them.

Therapy is often difficult as people frequently do not consider themselves to have a problem.

Nope, not a chance.  It is easier for them to believe that the fault lies with the rest of us, with those of us who are “too stupid” to know better.  Even more so when, like many of their fellow leading lights, they have made their billions and can buy their safety.

We are left to clean up their mess.

Barack Wept

From the gospel according to Woodrow, chapter 11:

17 On his arrival, Barack found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

21 “Lord,” Martha said to Barack, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

23 Barack said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

32 When Mary reached the place where Barack was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Barack saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, lord,” they replied.

35 Barack wept (after first confirming that Lazarus wasn’t a victim of death-by-drone in Pakistan, in which case Barack would have ordered a double-tap).

That pretty much covers the salvation-by-state that was on display with Obama’s pronouncements on January 5 regarding new proposals meant to curb “gun violence” (not my term…).

Following is a sampling of the various proposals.  Keep in mind: these apply to gun sales by persons in the United States to persons in the United States.  They do not apply to guns sales by Americans to persons in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, or any other country in the world.

Directs the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to require any business that engages in the sale of guns to obtain a federal license to do so and conduct background checks.

Requires the ATF Bureau to issue a rule requiring background checks for purchasers of certain dangerous firearms and other items who purchase them through a trust, corporation or other legal entity.

Encourages greater communications between federal and state authorities on criminal history information.

Instructs the FBI to overhaul the background check system to make it more efficient and accurate.

Proposes a $500 million investment to increase access to mental health care by increasing service capacity and the behavioral health workforce.

If you want to avoid this hassle, there are several overseas locations to which you can relocate where you must then promise to be a moderate terrorist.  After this, you will have access to an armory of weapons not available to you in any retail establishment in the United States.