Capitalist Chronicle

Baseball is the greatest game God ever allowed man to play. It is a grand nuance of strict rules. It is played best by a gentleman who tolerates a little cheating. It is a game where unwritten rules are equally as important as the written ones. It is an island of celestial perfection in a sea of flawed amiss. It is as simple as running around in more circles then your opponent, yet as complex as reading a breaking ball.
 
Baseball is a perfect game played by imperfect men. It is also officiated by the mortal. I wish that I could say I am mad about what happened at Comerica Park in downtown Detroit on June 2, 2010. It was an infamous event perpetrated by the virtuous. The honest truth is that anger never entered my mind. The shock choked out every other emotion besides confusion. I kept looking for that one thing that legendary umpire Jim Joyce saw that I did not, I never saw that one thing.  
 
After a full day of digestion, I also believe there was only one human being who could of possibly saw Jason Donald win that race between his foot and the bag and Armando Galarraga’s glove and the baseball. That one man was a well respected official with more than two decades experience in the elite class of his profession. That man was Jim Joyce, but don’t blame him, he was possessed by the baseball gods.
 
In the previous one hundred-ten years of history since the American League and National League joined forces, there have been only 18 games of perfection. There have been two already this year, how could we possibly have another right now? It may throw off the whole cosmic axis that holds this island of celestial perfection from sinking into that sea of flawed amiss.
 
It appeared to me that Joyce’s original intent was to call that play as he saw it, as we all saw, but then some force caused him to lift his arms in the air to signal “safe.” The only man in the world with the power to deny reality exercised that power at that moment. A sacrafice had to be made to the gods of baseball, and that sacrafice was the feeling of injustice in the aftermath.
 
In the end, my anger never came, but content did from the first moments that I saw the smile on Galarraga’s face. If it weren’t for this incident at Comerica Park we may have never known the true character of these two men. It reminds us all of how a professional reacts to adversity, with grace and dignity.
 
Armando Galarraga is now “My Tiger.”

A party is defined as a group of people. A political party is defined as a group of people bound by common political interests and theory. In times such as these, the boundaries between Democrat and Republican may become fuzzy and scuffed up by a status quo. A candidate can no longer expect to be re-elected by serving themselves in Washington, for when a movement such as this begins, attracting the electorate from both sides of the aisle, a new brand of candidate emerges. One with integrity. Does Rand Paul have it?

He is not the first potential senator to make promises to his hopeful constituents that he would keep their interest at heart and in mind if elected, in fact he promises to fight for it as we have also heard before, but he is the first candidate to embrace this new political movement know as the Tea Party and he has advanced because of it. As far as I am concerned, if Sarah Palin and Steve Forbes support his candidacy, I’m on board too. It is also refreshing to hear a candidate not talk about job creation. Jobs are created by the private sector and this can only happen if money is left there. The private sector can only flourish if the public sector steps aside and no longer tries to micro-manage everyday life in America.

I recently heard Rush Limbaugh make a point about this recent wave of Wall Street and corporate bailouts, and I paraphrase; “How can you expect to promote a strong economy by removing money from the private sector, then doling it back in as you see fit?” It makes perfect sense. It is the private sector, not the public sector, or government, that promotes job growth and economic expansion. It is the private sector, driven by profit that puts America to work. It is not the government driven by process, nor is entitlement programs that do so. You cannot legislate wealth, otherwise we would all be wealthy, or rather we would all be poor.

So now Dr. Rand Paul has won his primary, what does this say about the Tea Party movement? I believe it could be nothing but good news for them, but is it good news for America? There are some, like Janeane Garofalo who feel that the Tea Party stands for no more black presidents. Even Barack Obama had to put the kibosh on that theory when he claimed that he was also black before the election.

The movement may be certified now in Kentucky, but it grew legs in Massachusetts just as the original tea party did in Boston Harbor in December of 1773. Its acronym is Taxed Enough Already. It is a movement to put an end to special interest entitlement programs that put a stranglehold on our economy. Our federal government spends almost a quarter of the Gross Domestic Product, that means for every dollar spent in America, ultimately twenty-five cents goes to Washington where incumbents spend their share on re-election projects. The status quo is not for the good of America, it is for the good of the candidate. Thus, we should also hear a lot about pork spending in the coming campaign.

When they say “we are taking back our country,” this also is not code for no more black presidents, it is code for no more frivolous spending. When the federal government spends money, it is a drag on “mom and pop” as well as big corporations. It is a drag on the pocketbook of every American tax payer. It is taxation without representation when our elected officials no longer consider the feelings of their constituency.

The recent health care bill passed even though nearly two thirds of likely American voters were against it and the hostile takeover over one-seventh of the American economy. We know as a fact that every program the government runs is bankrupt and a bureaucratic mess, why would we want them to take over another aspect of everyday life, let alone bankrupt another huge part of the economy?

So, in a different time, the Tea Party, and Dr. Rand Paul may not be as widely accepted as viable candidates and movements. They are radical, but so is our present matter with the federal government. Drastic times call for drastic measures.