Republicans use MLB All-Star Game to advance the party, destroy liberty

by  • 

MLB all star game

In the aftermath of Major League Baseball’s “woke” decision to move its over-hyped All-Star Game away from Atlanta after the Georgia state legislature passed new election laws that Joe Biden referred to as “Jim Crow in the 21st Century,” Republicans are using the MLB All-Star Game to advance the party as they destroy liberty.

Ever since their humiliating defeat in the 2020 election, a divide has developed within the Republican ranks where talk of defending liberty is, in reality, political doublespeak for defending the party. Still, in their desperate desire to win back the power they lost after four years of Trumpism and faux conservatism, the fallout between Major League Baseball and self-interested politicians in both parties has resulted in a boatload of flowery language about liberty, conservatism, and other values they know nothing about.

Ironically, Trumpism and faux conservatism are still driving factors in the Republican Party response to the MLB All-Star Game relocation decision.

Shortly after MLB announced its intention to relocate the All-Star Game, Donald Trump released a statement calling for a “boycott of baseball and all woke companies” for supporting “Radical Left Democrats.”

“Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans and now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter I.D., which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections.

“Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!”

Meanwhile, Trumpist Republicans simultaneously began lining up to call for more than boycotts; instead calling for an end to Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption. In true Trumpian fashion, Republicans decided that MLB should be punished for having an opinion about a political issue contrary to the party’s.

If you’re noticing a sort of Trumpist Republican edition of “cancel culture” in all of this, you’re right. In fact, Mitch McConnell has openly called for corporations to remain silent on political issues — at least when they disagree with him — while pushing the Trumpism and nationalism ideology that now identifies the Republican Party.

Speaking in Kentucky yesterday, Mickey let folks know that it’s OK for companies to participate in the political process via donations to political campaigns, but he warned CEOs not to engage in the kinds of public statements made by Delta Air Lines, Coca-Cola, and Major League Baseball in opposition to Georgia’s new restrictive voting law.

“It’s quite stupid to jump in the middle of a highly controversial issue,” McConnell told reporters. “Republicans drink Coca-Cola too, and we fly and we like baseball. It’s irritating one hell of a lot of Republican fans.”

I hope Mickey meant Republicans who are fans of MLB and not fans of Republicans. Seems to me there aren’t too many in the latter category.

This isn’t the first time McConnell has played this game when it comes to corporate involvement in politics, nor has this always been his position. In fact, the ex-Senate Majority Leader felt quite differently in another place at another time.

Following the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United — the case that lifted political spending limits by “outside” groups — McConnell praised the decision with these words: “For too long, some in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process … the Constitution protects their right to express themselves about political candidates and issues up until Election Day.”

McConnell took the same position again in 2012 in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, complete with buzzwords like “conservative” and “freedom.” (Washington Post story).

“It is critically important for all conservatives — and indeed all Americans — to stand up and unite in defense of the freedom to organize around the causes we believe in, and against any effort that would constrain our ability to do so,” McConnell said in the speech at AEI, a Washington group that says it supports free enterprise.

McConnell, long an opponent of restrictions on political contributions, cited a Democratic proposal to require corporations and unions to disclose their spending on political advertising….

“This is nothing less than an effort by the government itself to expose its critics to harassment and intimidation, either by government authorities or through third-party allies,” McConnell said. (emphasis mine)

Let me say that I’m no defender of major leagues sports, nor am I a defender of the Far-Left’s relentless assault on American values. I am, however, a defender of the Constitution, which means I support freedom of speech and the rest of the Bill of Rights.

Still, if Republicans have shown us anything over the past — and particularly the past four years — it’s that principles are relative to the political need at the time. Character matters, until it doesn’t. Smaller government is important, until it isn’t. Free markets are important, until they aren’t. Reducing the deficit is vital to our survival, unless there’s an election coming up. Taxes are bad, unless we call them tariffs.

When Republicans talk about preserving liberty, they’re merely echoing party talking points. When Republicans defend the party instead of liberty, they aren’t lying; they’re doing exactly what they told us they would do. Preserving liberty is Republican doublespeak for preserving the party.

Meanwhile, faux conservatives have radicalized themselves with the extortion tactics of Alinsky’s confrontational politics against Major League Baseball and the MLB All-Star Game in the name of growing Republican political power. And it might work because nationalism isn’t subject to the moral check of liberty, so using a “the ends justifies the means” approach to growing raw, political power can be very effective.

We need to say goodbye to the Republican Party and the elitists who use it to destroy liberty, but that doesn’t mean we should be politically indifferent. Get politically active on the state and local level if you want to begin seeing things change in Washington. But do so with an awareness that unless we act and think as truly free people, we’re not going to be able to change a single thing.

We need to reject the tired and worn-out politics utilized by Republicans and Democrats. We need to get busy getting rid of the duopoly while there are still some who know what true liberty is . . . and what it isn’t.

The sooner we get started the better.

 

David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.

Follow the Strident Conservative on Twitter and Facebook.

Subscribe to receive podcasts of his daily two-minute radio feature: iTunes | Stitcher | Tune In | RSS



sp;

2 comments for “Republicans use MLB All-Star Game to advance the party, destroy liberty”

  1. Pingback: Josh Hawley solidified his progressive agenda with his 'trust-busting' bill - The Strident Conservative ™
  2. Pingback: Mr. Biden, Georgia voting laws are NOT 'Jim Crow on steroids' - The Strident Conservative ™

Comments are closed.