Has The United States' Penchant For Sports Crossed Over Into And Blurred The Political Landscape?

It's a new day I've been told, or sold, I should say. I want to believe. I really do. Unfortunately, it's clearly fraught with the same rants, capitol hill self-indulgence, politics as usual, and politics of the past. I struggle to find my place in it all. To somehow make sense of my oscillating fervor for action with my ever growing apathy that nothing I do, say, or yell about really makes a difference these days. Truly disheartened, I often think too many of us are swirling in the blender of American "Idle" mixed with the media manipulation playoffs of the info-tainment stations, while the folks that get to make the decisions at the congressional level ultimately decide based on their cronies, self interest, and contributors. What a mess.

My epiphany comes as I drive by a certain popular fast food chain in my coastal southern town, only to see their widescreen blaring the same news channel every time I pass. I wonder if corporate is behind this, or perhaps just the franchise owner? I have certainly seen other large corporations surreptitiously fanagle politics into their stores and campaigns. I understand. Business is business and it doesn't necessarily concern itself with right or wrong as much as profit. There are positions to lobby and capitalism to foster. But seriously, since when did some fast food joints get big flat screens anyway? Should I write them? I find myself angry. Then it hits me. A part of me is doing exactly what the corporation and TV channel on that big flat screen wants me to do, and that is, pick a side and start rooting for my team. That's good ratings my friends and really, the catch 22 of it all. The more you choose a side, fight, and give a damn, the more you feed the corporate media machine in a way.

It's our culture that is to blame to a large degree. The large corporations and media are feeding off of our propensity to choose a side and cheer for it. It has become instinctively "American" to initiate sports fever into our lives somehow. Personally, I love sports, but we have taken much of that healthy past time and allowed it to soil the fabric of our nation's laws, credibility, and future. Not only do we have to be number one as a country, but now, it seems, so does our political affiliation. I mean, where the heck are the God Bless The GOP or The Donkey bumper stickers? I assume the fortune 500 company making the God Bless America stickers and ubiquitous yellow ribbon magnets hasn't gotten around to it yet. I'm sure they're close.

It's just a bit crazy, to side with the place you were born in or political affiliation you were born into at all costs, without any rational ability to waver, question, or analyze. We stick by our "team" through the losing seasons, the trades, the scandal. We don't want to be fair weather. Great for sports, not so great for critical thinking. We need a voice that can make the separation for us and to allow us to think again, and not just scream because that's how our parents feel or our friends do.