How about we support the veterans and let the sports millionaires fend for themselves from now on?
So what did Samuel Johnson mean when he said “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Seems clear enough, but apparently there was no shortage of cynical demagogues feigning outrage even back in the 18th century.
Boswell no sooner reported Samuel Johnson’s famous declaration that ”patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel” than he defended the remark. Johnson, he said, ”did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many . . . have made a cloak for self-interest.”
Emphasis mine. Exhibit A in the 21st century has got to be the professional sports organizations who have been benefiting from elaborate pregame and halftime military displays — with bands, giant flags, and flyovers — while not quite making it clear that American taxpayers (like the hardworking people in the stands) were footing the bill for the whole show. Hope you like it!
Turns out the Department of Defense has been writing checks to 18 NFL teams, 10 MLB teams, eight NBA teams, six NHL teams, eight soccer teams, and NASCAR for the use of the hall, while allowing these enormously profitable franchises to plump up their patriotic bona fides with their customer base.
Do we never tire of throwing taxpayer money at professional sports? According to the Washington Post,
The report expands on one that became public last May and resulted in changes to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2016, prohibiting the expenditures and calling on leagues and teams to donate the money to organizations that support the military, veterans and their families.
Oh that’ll happen. And if it does it will be after the creation of phony baloney charitable organizations like ‘Hockey for Hooey’ and ‘NASCAR Wraps Itself in the Flag.’
The real villain here is of course our own government, specifically the Department of Defense, which has defended these expenditures as a recruitment tool. (Apparently all those injured, homeless, and drug-addicted veterans waiting in line at the VA Hospitals have become a real drag that initiative.)
If our government has all this extra money lying around aimed at recruitment, then why is the job of taking care of the returning veterans falling to the private sector?