Conservatives Hail Olympic Power Of Capitalism, So What Was Wrong With Chicago Again?

In an article on Big Government, regarding the winter Olympics, I thought there was something very interesting in the wording. From Zach Lahn's article:

One of the few opportunities Americans have to witness and participate in true national unity happens every two years during the Olympic Games. Spurred on by the tradition and spirit of the games, Americans come together to root for their favorite athlete or event, setting aside, almost wholly, entrenched political views to witness the raw power of…Capitalism.

In actuality, the setting aside of political views for the Olympics is done by only one side of the political spectrum, the Left. This is common with a polarized political system, for true political unity one side, more often than not, is forced to cave. What many liberals fail or refuse to recognize however is that they are caving to conservative principles daily and the Olympics helps to unveil the true liberal love affair with capitalism.

At the heart and soul of both the Olympic Games and the free markets you will find the same driving force, competition.

Love watching the Olympics? Thank Capitalism. Competition and the desire to better one’s own life has brought about the motivation and innovation needed to produce nearly all of the devices we use to view the Olympics. With something as simple as pushing the power button on a flat screen TV, liberals are confessing to the pure success of the capitalistic system. Whether listening on XM radio, streaming live on a computer, receiving a TV signal via satellite, updating medal totals on a mobile phone, or watching in person, the means of viewing is courtesy of the fruits of capitalism.

For conservatives, this is not out of the ordinary; after all it’s the conservative ideology’s support and advocacy of economic freedom that has brought the Olympic Games into our homes and made them more competitive. We understand how the system works, and we understand that the luxuries we enjoy have a price tag attached.


For liberals the story is much different, primarily due to the fact that by definition liberalism, or progressivism, at its core advocates for systematic diminishment of our capitalistic economic system. For this reason liberals should be staunchly opposed to the Olympics. However, this fact is not recognized by the average Democrat voter. They do not realize that many of their leaders are looking to forcefully change the way they are allowed to live their lives, and cause the luxuries they enjoy to be more difficult to obtain.

Remember, it is liberals who are continually designing science void, emissions and carbon regulations which make traveling to the Olympics drastically more expensive. It’s liberals who are constantly pushing to raise business tax rates, which leads to a decrease in the same innovation and productivity which was necessary to bring us the HDTVs, laptop computers, cell phones, and training technologies that make our viewing and enjoyment possible. It’s liberals who see competition in general as the steamroller to the droves of victims whose dependence they sponsor through entitlement programs.

Apparently, the Olympics are a conservative invention, and the support of liberals for the Olympics is the surrendering of progressive principles for conservatism. If that is the case, then why were conservatives so upset with allowing one of capitalism's greatest events come to the States to be held in the windy city, Chicago? By Lahn's own admission, conservatives politicized the Olympics, while liberals apparently "caved" to market pressures - their desire for sports and technology and technology to view their sports was the straw that broke the camel's back, but I see a more significant message in Lahn's article. Conservative's hate for liberals trumps their lust for capitalism. While he claims conservatism has yielded pretty much every great technological breakthrough, as well as the spirit of competition, it is also the same ideology that chooses to override national pride, as well as the potential to bring economic revitalization to the United States.

Am I overstating the impact of the Olympics? According to Lahn and the conservative example, I am not. Considering Chicago's unemployment rate topped 10% and conservatives do not believe the economy is improving anytime soon, it would make sense to bring the Olympics home to boost the local economy. I just figured I'd point that one out to the capitalists over at Big Government.