Sports culture and left-wing elite culture

Sports are an important part of American culture. See football stadiums, basketball arenas, baseball fields, tennis courts, golf courses, and other sports facilities that define the American landscape.

Young Americans grow up practicing individual sports such as running, figure skating, acrobatics, golf, bowling, swimming, and skiing. And they practice group sports such as baseball, basketball, soccer, and football. Parents spend a surprising amount of time transporting their children to and from various practice sessions (for better or worse, much more time than they spend tutoring academic subjects).

Countless sporting events are broadcast on television throughout the year. As I wrote earlier this week, many of them are top-rated shows (NFL football, major college football bowl games, and college basketball's March Madness Final Four have huge ratings). Masu).

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There is an interesting relationship between interest in sports and the pragmatic, competitive culture at the heart of the American system. Consider the important values ​​and realities of sports and compare them to the efforts of the elite modern left to fundamentally change society and force Americans into a post-competitive culture.

The contrast between the values ​​inherent in sport and the attitudes and values ​​of modern left-wing elites is striking. This explains why generations of efforts by elite left-wing academics, media outlets, politicians, and bureaucrats were ultimately rejected by the American people in the 2024 elections.

Consider the key elements of sports culture and how they decisively contradict and reject the alternative values ​​of the modern left elite.

1. Winning is good. The elitist left hates the idea that winners should be elevated because it makes losers feel marginalized. Sports enthusiasts believe that defeat is a simple step to try harder to succeed.

2. Mastering any sport requires constant practice and effort. But the elite left rejects hard work as subjecting the free, artistic, and spoiled human being to the humiliation of effort. This is why, for three generations, elite leftists have derided working at McDonald's as “flipping burgers'' and calling it less than the dignity of people who deserve to be treated better. With more than 40 million people working at McDonald's (including Jeff Bezos), it's clear that the elite left is not winning on this value.

3. Any competitive sport provides opportunities for achievement, but success is not guaranteed. Even the best athletes in any sport lose more than they win. Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords catcher Josh Gibson still holds the highest batting average in Major League Baseball. He played in the Negro Leagues II in the 1930s and 1940s. However, Gibson's batting average of .372 means that he did not get a hit in about 6 out of 10 at-bats.

Tom Brady is the winningest quarterback of all time, but he loses a quarter of his games. Tiger Woods, perhaps the greatest golfer in history, has gone long periods without a win. Deciding to compete in a sport means you have to be prepared to lose and keep competing. Sports fans believe that the process builds character. Elite leftists think it's cruel and exclusive.

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4. Competitive sports are inherently meritocratic. This commitment to excellence directly contradicts the ideas of diversity, equity, and inclusion that have come to dominate contemporary leftist elites. Consider a football team competing in the championship game. In sports culture, we would say, “Play as a first-team player.'' The DEI crowd will say, “We're going to use the right players to represent racial inclusion and make sure everyone feels a sense of equality.”

Playing the least talented quarterback is the DEI version of fairness. Virtually any sports fan would think that approach is insane and guarantees loss for the entire team (of course, the same principle applies to businesses and countries as well).

Members of the Democratic and Republican teams shake hands after the Charity Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park on June 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. The annual bipartisan game was first held in 1909. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

5. A positive aspect of playing with the best players and putting together the best teams is celebrating success. The elite left's passion for inclusivity doesn't tell you whether you won because you were the best, or simply because it was considered your turn. In an inclusion-based system, participation and identity are more important than success. This leads to scenes like Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren claiming to be part Native American to gain admission to the Texas bar.

In the real world, as exemplified in sports, people who rely on historically proven principles of success continually improve and ultimately succeed. Those who rely on short-term emotions to create fantasy worlds are doomed to failure in the long run.

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The elite left's efforts to reject reality and impose its own social and political values ​​have long been growing. Tom Wolfe captured this madness and utter isolation from reality in his wonderful essay “Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers,'' published in 1970. After reading Wolfe's essay, it will be impossible to take leftist elites seriously again as anything other than a mortal threat to the American culture of hard work, courage, and success.

If Republicans used the cultural values ​​of sports to radically modernize government, America would be a safer, richer, and more successful nation. It will also become clear that the modern Democratic Party is made up of elitists committed to values ​​and principles that simply don't work in the real world.

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