Turning Singing Of National Anthem At Sporting Events Into Police And Military Support Ritual – OpEd

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Saturday evening I walked through my living room where game four of the World Series was playing. On the field four cops were singing the national anthem before the thousands of people gathered at the stadium and the millions more watching on TV.

After seeing this, I sent an email to Joshua Bennett, telling him I had just seen an example of what I had talked about earlier that day on his radio show Patriot’s Lament on KFAR radio in Fairbanks, Alaska.

On the show I had discussed how the singing of the national anthem at sporting events lately involves military and police members often displaying the American flag and sometimes even singing the national anthem in the sports arenas. I argued this development is part of an effort to tie the national anthem at sporting events in with an expression of “support for the US government and particularly support for the law enforcers and the military people and what they are doing,” thus pressuring people through mass participation to affirm such support and making the national anthem ritual a “a very politicized act.”

Among the many other topics discussed in the three-hour interview are the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity conference that took place in September, moves toward a US war on Iran, the US government’s continuing effort to overthrow the government of Syria, the worsening of US relations with Russia under the Donald Trump administration, potential US military action against North Korea, US military intervention in Africa, the use of the September 11, 2001 attacks in America to advance previously desired expansions of government in America and military actions overseas, consequences of growing support by Americans for marijuana legalization, benefits of drug legalization, and President John F. Kennedy and his assassination

Listen to the complete show here:

Read here the post Bennett mentions during the show in which he presents at his blog some of his thoughts concerning national anthem protests at National Football League games.

This article was published by RonPaul Institute.

Adam Dick

Adam Dick is a Senior Fellow at Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Adam worked from 2003 through 2013 as a legislative aide for Rep. Ron Paul. Previously, he was a member of the Wisconsin State Board of Elections, a co-manager of Ed Thompson's 2002 Wisconsin governor campaign, and a lawyer in New York and Connecticut.

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