I've been told my favorite term is microcosm.
I appreciate its versatility. Many prevalent issues in sports have mirror examples, if not its source, coming from the greater society outside the field of play. Perhaps the best example is the player empowerment saga happening in the NBA and response to it from the team's governors. Politics -- or better yet, the two-party system -- is also a microcosm. I think the two microcosms -- sports and politics -- are more alike than they are different. In fact, I've always found the criticism of sports ironic when the same critiques of sports fandom seem to also be the case in how people identify politically. Interestingly enough the word fan, short for fanatic, is defined as "a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, especially for an extreme religious or political cause." Examples are plentiful of sports fans in various capacities acting foolishly yet one can argue this happens in the world of politics as well. How so? In Origins, Marc Horger thoroughly breaks down America's "love affair" with the two-party system. Particularly Horger's identification of James Madison's Federalist Paper 10 greatly warns of how factions ultimately crumble popular governments. Remember that "excessive and single-minded zeal" from the fanatic definition? Here's Madison's take on factions from Federalist Paper 10: "A zeal for different opinions concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good." For all the zeal in sports, fans have shown the ability to co-operate for the common good, this being one memory that sticks out: Yet on the other hand politics, even when it hasn't made sense, has stuck firmly to this two-party rule. Horger recounts the 1924 and 1928 Democratic National Conventions and the in-fighting the party endured being the home of the racial segregated South as well as the nation's big cities. In addition, there included five candidates -- three being former Presidents -- that ran as third party candidates in breaking off from their previous affiliations one would surmise due to philosophical issues. The sixth, and most popular, candidate to do this was recently deceased H. Ross Perot. As Horger's article was published before the 2016 election we would see another third party candidate rise to prominence in Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. As the characteristics of the Democratic and Republican parties have changed often, as Horger highlights, there hasn't been a quest to veer from the two-party system. Instead parties simply found new 'shticks'. Yet even if a candidate like Bill Clinton, as David Abraham -- from the previous linked article -- suggests, isn't "that kind of Democrat" voters still tend to side with their party of choice. While other candidates exist outside of the two parties -- ones that might align ideologically -- but your team is your team right? This has felt especially relevant in the last election cycle and certainly set to rear its head in 2020. Bernie Sanders wasn't deemed popular enough to defeat eventual President Donald Trump leading the Democrats to give the nomination to Hillary. Yet voting for Bernie Sanders felt frowned upon as the sole objective seemed to be 'Beat Trump at all costs'. Fast forward to the upcoming election and it feels as if most Democrat nominee candidates have adopted similar stances from Sanders' 2016 run. History looks primed to repeat itself, with Bernie running again among a sea of new contenders. Sports fans are viewed -- while sometimes dysfunctional -- a key to the cog that is a team and its connection to its community. This type of relationship is one voters should aim for in being part of the political process compared to simply being along for the ride. "Identity, not ideology, held them together" as Horger explained about people's political party should be something we use to describe sports fans not the group in charge of selecting our country's President. Comments are closed.
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Ty FosterQuestion everything. WQHC Archives
June 2020
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