A Note To Professional Athletes: A Plan To Create Positive Societal Change Vs. Your Empty Disrespectful Kneeling and Ranting

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political class tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the second post this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

Usually in these “by the numbers'' posts we examine real numbers that exist in different areas of life and show how things got so screwed up number wise because of the arrogance, ignorance, or stupidity of politicians. We are going to go at today’s numbers from a different angle in that we are going to generate our own hypothetical numbers in an attempt to make the world a better place.

As almost all of you probably know, athletes across all of the professional sports leagues have taken up the mantles of social justice, defund the police, all police are bad, all white people have privilege, etc. Rather than just play the sport and games that they are good at, they want to tell us how to live our lives, what horrible people we are, and in the process insult and attack our country’s heritage, flag, veterans, and police officers.

Most of them lecture us about how much smarter and insightful they are than us, they take a knee when the anthem is played, they walk off the court or field when the anthem is played, or they denigrate and insult other players who have a different opinion than them relative to the flag and anthem.

Frankly, myself and probably a lot of other people are getting tired of their act, not because they have an opinion that may differ from others but because their antics and disrespect do nothing to get solutions to current day problems. Taking a knee before a football game does not make a kid safer in violence prone south Chicago. Homeless Americans in Los Angeles are no better off because these athletes refuse to respect those that fought for freedom in this country. No abused woman, a victim of domestic violence, in a shelter somewhere is better off because of their egotistical rants.

Now let’s be clear, I am fully aware that a lot of professional athletes make meaningful contributions to their communities with foundations, financial contributions, etc. And that is great. But two things:

1. I don't need a second string safety on some NFL team lecturing me on social justice when they do nothing to fix what is wrong in their communities.
2. Second, if they want me and other fans to step up our game on fixing society’s wrongs, then I want to see them also step up their game or at least get in the game since they certainly can afford to do so, more than most fans.

Which is where our hypothetical numbers come into play. Let’s start in Minnesota, specifically Minneapolis, the city where the recent social unrest, protests and violence started due to the horrific and unnecessary murder of George Floyd at the hands of some very bad police officers. If professional athletes want to do something more valuable and more positive in their communities than just making empty and meaningless symbolic gestures during the national anthem, let’s put forth the following mathematical model, using Minneapolis as the test case: 

• From what I can gather from online sources, the player salaries for the NFL, MBL, NHL, and NBA franchises located in Minneapolis is about $415 million a year.
• Let’s assume that we impose a 5% “social justice” tax on those salaries that the players would have to pay every year.
• Let’s assume that the revenue from this social justice tax would be used in the community to solve some real problems that affect real people rather than taking a knee during the national anthem that solves nothing.
• 5% of $415 million comes out to about $20.75 million every year.

Great, we now have some revenue numbers to work with, what could be done with them:

• Checking online sources, it looks like a good, middle of the road Chromebook computer costs about $300 on average.
• Thus, simple math shows that the annual $20.75 million could buy about 69,000 chrome books in a single year.
• There are currently 36,350 kids attending Minneapolis public schools.
• Which means that one year’s worth of social justice tax could buy every kid almost two Chromebooks.
• But that would not make much sense so let’s buy each kid one Chromebook which would cost $10.9 million, leaving us just under $10 million to fix other human problems in the city.
• Maybe we could take a couple of hundred thousand dollars and give it to Minneapolis resident, Korboi Balla, a retired city firefighter who invested his life savings in a city bar, an investment that was destroyed by rioters, and give him another chance to build his dream that was destroyed before his eyes in a single night of violence.
• Maybe we could take a few million dollars from that social justice tax and give it to the owner of the 7-Sigma corporation, a city business that had been operating in the city for 33 years, a business that had 50 local city residents on the payroll, and a business that was burned to the ground by rioters so that the owner could rebuild his business and save those city jobs.
• After these two acts of support there would still be millions of dollars left to help others in need, be it the homeless, the sick, the addicted, etc.

You get the idea. If you as a professional athlete want to lecture others on social justice and call others privileged and racist based on no facts or evidence, than I want to see you step up your game, step up your commitment, and finally do something more productive than take a knee, walk off the court or field, berate others that dare to have a different opinion and continue to insult those that have served and continue to serve this country, protecting your lives, your property, and your freedom.

The numbers above are just an example of what could be done in a single city based on a small sliver of the fabulous wealth professional athletes enjoy today. This would be especially true if the social justice tax money flowed directly to the schools, directly to those in need, etc. and not through any government agency or other bureaucratic organization that would find a way to mishandle, misspend or lose the money. Directly to those in need in the community. 

The numbers don't lie. A small social justice tax, properly administered, and paid out directly to those in need would create more good, more benefits, save more lives, than any number of times the national anthem and flag are abused and disrespected with players' disrespectful actions. 

So, to those that kneel, to those that walk off the field or court, to those that think you are wiser, better, and more moral than the rest of us, either pony up some money and create real, positive societal change or just shut up.

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Related thoughts: https://americanvision.org/24307/black-sports-stars-squandering-their-moral-capital/

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Note: we have done a lot reporting on the dire and ever worsening situation in Chicago. The crime, the violence, and the shootings have resulted in more wounded citizens, more fatalities and a more dangerous place to be. In those discussions we have always pointed out that the mayor and those in public office in Chicago have no idea how to fix this deteriorating situation. While the vast majority of people cannot help fix what the local political class has broken, may I suggest that a donation be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago to at least give the kids of the city a chance, a safe place to go and just be kids. The address for donating to this fine organization is:

Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago Club Support Center

2102 W. Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60612

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Bruno-Korschek/e/B002KYU08Q/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w