Congress has introduced a bill which will remove certain provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act from application to minor league ball players. Are you kidding me?
You might ask yourself, if you are a patriotic, law-abiding, constitution-loving American citizen, why is the government rigging the system in favor of the owners of baseball teams?
If you haven’t stopped laughing yet, let’s put the words out there: because they asked them to. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with donations or lobbyists or anything of the sort. No, the “Save America’s Pastimes Act”– I am not making this up! — is all about preserving part of our national character, and providing fun for the whole family.
Of course it’s a sop to owners! Of course the purpose is to increase profits for owners and reduce earnings for players! Of course it’s an expansion of the rights and privileges of the ownership class at the expense of labour.
And why shouldn’t the government step in to ensure that gullible young men who honestly believe they will win the lottery some day and play in the major leagues (90 % of them won’t) can be exploited by billionaire team owners who already get taxpayer subsidized stadiums from equally gullible tax-payers? Why shouldn’t they have a hand in the exploitation of young athletes who would do anything for a chance at a professional career?
The moral objection to taking taxpayers money for personal gain only applies to poor people mainly because they lack the vocabulary. Instead of saying, I need some money to feed my kids and pay my rent because I’m broke and I don’t have a job, you must learn to say, “I wish to invest in the future of our nation and lay the groundwork for a thriving culture of aspiration so that our young people can fulfill their dreams.”
And here is $10,000 for your re-election campaign. And we’ll call it the “Save America’s Pastimes Act”.
If one of your representatives supported this bill, I hope you vote against him in the next election, if only for this reason: the astounding cynicism of the title of the bill.
[whohit]Free Enterprise for Losers[/whohit]