Corpus Callosum

Where Right and Left Meet to Have a Drink

[rightmeetsleft-blog]

NFL welfare undermines our welfare

Really, Lucy? You’re really going to stand behind this statement: “The NFL functions on a small scale how government should writ large.” ?

You do realize the NFL is subsidized up the wazoo? If you’re looking for a welfare queen she’s standing on the 50 yard line chewing gum real fast. The NFL is exempt from almost every anti-trust law that governs other industry. The NFL bullies their way into getting sweet stadium deals and their milquetoast response to cheating, concussions, drug use and domestic violence is shameful. 

The NFL model brings stadiums to downtowns and the stadiums don’t create jobs, don’t revitalize the area, and they don’t bring in new businesses compared to any other revitalization campaign. Theodore Roosevelt said, “The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally on the welfare of all of us,” whereas the creed for the NFL is “Sure you can charge 18.00 dollars for a beer and a pretzel at a Bears’ game”. You see the difference? It’s subtle, but it’s there.

Oh, and this billion dollar tax payer funded stadium they cry for is given on the owners’ good word that they don’t have the money to do it. No open books, transparency or accountability. 

The NFL talent pipeline is collegiate sports. The success pipeline in real America is the education system. If you are proposing real reform to the shameful state of public education at all levels I agree.  It costs 25,000 per year for my nephew to attend a state school.  That’s hardly a meritocracy. 

The meritocracy on the field might make for a good metaphor for the “play hard and win” mentality, but I’m not gonna look a middle-aged guy or gal in the face and say you won’t be ready for retirement because you didn’t work hard enough. Are you? Most Americans have worked hard, are working hard, and their futures are fraught with uncertainty and anxiety. Why? Because government sets the rules and that is where our government and your NFL intersect. They both set the rules and distribute the money as they see fit. I don’t think I need to remind you whose pockets the government lets keep the money. 

If you are looking for a real model on how a government should be run, I’d like to direct your attention away from Jerry Jones and toward Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison. 

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of TYRANNY.” ~James Madison

If you are truly supporting real fairness in the playing field, with equal opportunity and a distribution that fosters fairness and doesn’t allow a small minority to accumulate all the power and wealth then I’m with you, and I’ll be sending you a Bernie bumper sticker, because clearly, he is your candidate. 

[rightmeetsleft-blog]

Trump aside, GOP field looks formidable

Chuck,

Like many Americans, I anticipated with great excitement the first Republican presidential debate this Thursday.  I was in my car the entire time listening on AM radio, wondering if my reactions to the debate would differ from those seeing it live on television ala Nixon-Kennedy (they weren’t).  And in-between the AM crackles I did make out most of the event.  That’s what I get for not ponying up the money for XM radio. Siriusly.  

While everyone is fixated on The Donald, let me give you my first reaction: The Democrats are in serious trouble this year.  24 million Americans – an all-time record for a primary debate – tuned in to the event where yes, they were treated to Trump being Trump.  But they also saw something else, Chuck:  A stage filled with a number of intelligent, experienced, formidable leaders who can appeal to a broad swath of Americans in the general election.  

Marco Rubio, the popular senator from swing-state Florida, really stood out: Sharp, articulate, deeply knowledgeable.  John Kasich, the popular governor of swing-state Ohio, also looked good.  Scott Walker, governor of blue-state Wisconsin, didn’t hurt himself.  Chris Christie looked good sparring with Rand Paul. And in the undercard event, Carly Fiorina – the former CEO of Hewlett Packard – looked extraordinarily good.  You may not care for Ted Cruz, but the guy is extraordinarily sharp and a great public speaker.  And Jeb?  He did moderately well, which is probably his aim:  Win the primary while being as moderate as is possible in a Republican primary.

So the nation tuned in to see The Apprentice – thank you, Donald – but got something else.  24 million Americans got an opportunity to see several candidates they can imagine as president.  Trump aside, this was not the crazy or embarrassing lineup of elections past.  This is a solid, substantive, fresh, experienced lineup of very strong candidates – one Americans will tune in again to see, and increasingly like.

How many Americans will say the same thing of the Democratic Party’s lineup come October?  Not many, I’d wager.

- Lucy

~��b

[rightmeetsleft-blog]

Jerry Jones for President

Chuck,

As your sore derriere will attest, I am a huge football fan.  As we transition to August each year my fantasy football leagues take shape, I pre-order my face paint on Amazon, and I begin to schedule fall weekends around Sunday football schedules.  

The NFL functions on a small scale how government should writ large.  First and foremost, it aims for a competitive playing field.  The league establishes rules designed to make the game as exciting and competitive as possible, reviews them each year, and changes them frequently to improve the game.  The league radically enforces rules to ensure fairness.  The league fosters youth leagues, identifies talented young talent and recruits them into the system.  The league facilitates an annual draft which is very progressive in nature, directing the best talent to the worst teams.  And get this:  The league redistributes money each year, taking money from teams in the biggest media markets and channeling to the smallest markets.  The amount of money each team can spend on its players is capped, and is equalized across teams.  So in many ways this is democratic socialism:  League owners vote, the players are represented by a powerful union, and revenue is shared.  

http://www.nfl.com/photoessays/0ap3000000478529 

But this is also a very capitalist, free-market meritocracy.  The best players make gobs and gobs of money (my #1, the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers, earns over $1 million each game- $22 million per year).  The average NFL player earns $1.9 million per year. The average NFL team is worth about $1.5 billion.  Stadiums get bigger each year, and very smart and talented people get wealthier each year.  

Wouldn’t it be great if government worked like this?  What if government were geared to develop rules and structures designed to make the playing field – economic life in the US – as fair, vibrant, and competitive as possible?  A radically fair and competitive field, where people are allowed to succeed and fail on merit.  Income redistribution, yet some people make a whole lot of money.

Forget Donald Trump for President.  How about Jerry Jones?

Lucy

[rightmeetsleft-blog]

Sadly, Trump will help the GOP

Dear Lucy,

Before I punch the clock and the rhetorical beatings commence, I want to thank you for starting this blog. It sure beats passing tightly folded notes back and forth ala high school, plus, there needs to be a place like Corpus Collosum, a place where people, and by “people” I mean our mothers, can go and read two reasonable adults from opposite sides of the political fence “go at it”.  

Our long friendship has weathered some pretty rock ‘em sock ‘em conversations, not to mention the hairstyles of the 80s and 90s (I’m lookin’ at you, Mullet Man) but we always come out shaking hands. Admittedly, I still worry, given your reputation for being the ultimate prankster, that you’re actually a well-reasoned liberal and this conservative act of yours is the ultimate joke on me.

Well, maybe “worry” is the wrong word; maybe “wish” is the more appropriate one. I wish it was an act. For decades you have played the Lucy to my Charlie Brown. Every time I think you are coming closer to the liberal/reasonable side of reading the world, you yank the ball out from under me and say something straight out of the NRA handbook, but as your previous post suggests, there might be one thing we can agree on and that is Donald Trump:

He’s an idiot. Moving on…

Jeeze, don’t I wish that we could dismiss the clown that fast? Don’t I wish that he could just be fodder for this summer’s backyard bbq chats, “That Donald Trump says the darnedest things!” but he’s not to be dismissed, Lucy. He’s not just some squished up face with preternatural hair; he’s freaking dangerous is what he is.

Donald Trump taps right into the center of the conservative collective, uniting them, feeding them, and giving voice to their resentment and fears while releasing eight-years of blue-balled Obama anger. The criticism he’s received from his fellow conservatives has been about his gaffs, not his core beliefs. Everyone agrees he’s sideshow Bob, clearing the stage, warming up the audience/voters for some toned-down, sweater-vested REAL Republican to take the spotlight.

This REAL Republican will make us all sigh in collective unison. “At least he’s not as bad as Donald Trump”

Donald Trump is doing nothing new. Both parties throw their base some dripping red meat early in the primaries and then parade out the breaded chicken as it gets closer to the vote, but what if the base doesn’t want breaded chicken? What if the base is saying this righteous indignation is feeling pretty darn good?  What if the base is feeling economically vulnerable? What if the base needs a cathartic straw man and Donald Trump is the one with the match?

Don’t be too hard on the Donald. After all, Donald Trump is doing you and your party a service. You’ll thank him later by voting the REAL Republican in, the REAL Republican who will make sure deregulation and tax breaks make Donald Trump and his kind even richer.

I’m sorry to break it to you, dude, but Trump is the idealogical funhouse reflection of you, Lucy.  Sure, it’s magnetized, and pornacisized (is that a word?) but it’s you. The question you need to ask yourself is how far away is Donald Trump from the actual ideals of the Republican Party? Take away the insults, the bad hair, and some of Trump’s hyperbole, and I fear the answer is, “not much”.

�q�wXC

[rightmeetsleft-blog]

Chuck, Leave it to Donald Trump to get me to finally set up this blog.  Just when I thought the Republican Party had assembled its dream team, a powerful lineup of smart, serious, accomplished actors who could bring substance to the primary season - and a start contrast to a tired and thin Democratic Party slate - Donald Trump enters the fray.   He calls immigrants "rapists" and "murderers." His poll numbers climb.  He  calls his fellow Republicans "dummies," "losers" and "clowns."  And this week he says that John McCain - the man who flew almost two dozen missions over Vietnam before he was shot down, captured, and brutally tortured for five years in the Hanoi Hilton (while Trump was enjoying his deferment) - is not a "war hero."  And each step along the way?  His poll numbers actually rise. What was it that Churchill said about the best argument against democracy being five minutes with the average voter?

Lucy