Sports in America; T. Machan

One advantage of being an athlete in Com munist Hungary had been that if one showed talent and perseverance, one's life was made much better by the state. Under most statist political systems-ones that hold the state as a higher being than the individuals who com prise it-sports become a kind of public exhi bition of collective excellence. That was espe cially true in Hungary and is still true in most of the Soviet bloc countries, as well as in China and in some of the rightist states such as South Korea. If one demonstrates ability and willingTibor Machan teaches philosophy at Auburn Univer sity, Alabama. He recently edited Commerce and Morality for Rowman and Littlefield. ness to become a world class athlete, one is freed from all normal responsibilities of life and is kept in considerable luxury and privi lege. For this one sells one's soul and, especial ly, one's body to the state as long as it holds up.

In my ignorance of the American political tradition, I was appalled at how little invest ment the American government made in ama teur athletics. I noted that, with all its fabulous talent, America could win at virtually any of the Olympic events, if only sufficient resources and discipline were invested in that goal. But of course here is the rub. American soci ety may include some of the greatest talent for practically any task, including any facet of ath letics. But it is not primarily a statist system. Government in this society is-or at least is supposed to be-a servant of the people. Indi viduals and their own goals are of paramount importance, not showing off the system, prov ing to the world how fabulous the social organ ism happens to be. Therefore, in America many of the Olympic events are truly amateur sports. Of course, there are exceptions and gray areas-tennis and basketball, for example. But in the main, the athletes compete because that is what they want to do. And these athletes tend to have a variety of goals in their lives, which shouldn't be surprising for relatively free men and wom en. Unlike, for example, the East German swimmers, many top American swimmers take time from their training to devote to studying, family, and fun. Why not? Life has much more to offer than being a single-minded athlete.

Sport, after all, is supposed to be something of 368 THE FREEMAN • SEPTEMBER 1989 an enjoyment in one's life, not a mission of slave labor. But I didn't understand this when I first came to the United States. I was somewhat of a converted nationalist and didn't realize that what made this a nation worthy of respect had little to do with winning the most medals at the Olympics, having the most productive eco nomic system, being first in space, or any other single purpose that some people might prefer to take as a sign of collective success. What was vital for this nation-and there are signs that this has not been entirely forgotten even now, except perhaps by most of our intellectu als and politicians-was that each individual had the liberty to strive for his own goals in life, provided he or she didn't trample on the similar efforts of others. So now when I watch the Olympics my thinking and emotional reactions are very dif ferent from that first time I came to the United States. I scoff at all the nationalism injected into the commentary. I am usually bemused and even elated, in contrast to the network commentators, when it is noted that Ameri cans are not doing· as well as the Soviet bloc athletes-who usually appear glum even after delivering a 9.95 performance in gymnastics!

Free people do not put all their energy into a showy project such as the Olympics, except, now and then, spontaneously. Thus the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics disturbed me, although I realized that most people were celebrating the rejuvenation of the country, of which the American athletes' success in Los Angeles tended to be a symbol. But some of the nation alism began to grate on me. I am a refugee to this country not because it manufactures Olympic winners, or the greatest technology in the world, or for any other single achievement found in it, but because it is the best environment for individuals to pursue their own happiness, according to their own in dividual talents, abilities, and choices. D 369 Readers' Forum To the Editors: Thomas DiLorenzo's excellent article on "Monopoly Government" in the June 1989 issue of The Freemanhas one important misstatement. The reason why government is in business does not have anything to do" . . . with the desire to supplement agency budgets with commercial profits" either on the Federal, and certainly not on the local level. It has to do with the prime mo tivating factor of virtually every politician: getting reelected! The common name for this is patron age.