If there’s one thing that Americans can agree on, it’s a fair game. For better or worse, we as a culture are obsessed with sports, and to most of us, fairness and a level playing field are sacred. Americans love to compete. We play to win. And although we may root for different teams, most of us hate cheating and unfair advantages. We won’t stand for a rigged game. We hate unfair competition.

We don’t pay attention to much beyond the Kardashians, the weather and sports. But we’re “dialed in” when we suspect that sporting events aren’t fair — deflated footballs, steroid-enhanced home run hitters, gambling players who throw games, teams that are snubbed from an NCAA tournament. It’s all over the headlines. And we eat it up.

Shouldn’t we be just as vigilant when competition is unfair within the corporate capitalism that drives our economy and within the oligarchy that has usurped our representative democracy? Most of us would be outraged if in an Olympic event there were a small group of competitors who could “buy” lengthy head starts, and then during the race could change the rules to favor themselves, and at the finish line these “competitors” are allowed to pass along their medals AND their head starts to their children and their grandchildren for generations to come. WHY AREN’T WE OUTRAGED THAT THIS IS HAPPENING IN “THE GAME OF REAL LIFE?”

Most of us don’t even know about it. The best “reporting” in American newspapers lives on the sports pages. Until that changes there’ll be no fair game and 99% of us lose.

[socialpoll id=”2271110″]