A Modern Tawdry Nationalism

Elite Sport and Dirty Money

There are few things more unsavoury than a rapacious government boasting about how, after having pillaged its citizens, it then wasted the “loot”. We have been subjected to this odious spectacle in recent days, with the government bragging about blowing $60 million (that's right, $60 million!) on supporting sports for the Olympic Games.

We were treated to the disgusting spectacle of a Minister of the Crown, Clayton Cosgrove boasting about how New Zealand had won the biggest swag of medals since how long—a demonstration that the government's “investment” in elite sports people was “paying off”. The ethics of this are craven. The ideology which drives it is both morally bankrupt and insidiously wrong.

The ethical monstrosity is made plain by asking a simple question: Why would you tax citizens to fund and promote elite sports people? We can understand taxing citizens to ensure that the nation's courts are effectively protected from being frequented by weapon-carrying thugs. We can approve taxing citizens in order to build and maintain a strong well-equipped, well-trained National Guard for national defence. For these tasks—justice and defence—are part of the proper and very necessary role of government. But taxing already overburdened citizens to fund elite sports people? There is nothing proper about it.

Let's review some of the reasons put forward to justify this criminal waste.

Other nations do it, so we need to do it, if we are going to keep up. In this regard we have probably been more provoked by the Australian example than any other. But it begs an obvious question: why would we try to keep up? If Australia or any other nation wants to burden its people, on the one hand, and squander its resources on the other, wasting them on elite sports facilities, why would we care? If Australia ended up winning every medal on offer in every sport in the Olympic Games, and shouted "Oi, Oi, Oi" all the way to Timbuktoo, why would that concern us? Would it somehow damage our lives? Would it threaten our national sovereignty? Would it improve our education system? Would it make our society less just? Would it properly restitute victims of crime? If Australians are that stupid—let them do it. To imitate idiocy is to maximise stupidity.

We need to win medals to maintain our national pride. As soon as the argument is uttered, its folly is immediately obvious. Misusing and wasting the taxes of citizens to promote elite sports people is not a matter of national pride—but immense folly. It is a reason for shame. We find no pride in medals won off the back of the tax payer. Further, why would a government concern itself with national pride? This is just jingoistic nationalistic imperialistic bombast. In the nineteenth century the European powers of Germany, France, the Netherlands, and England used exactly the same reasoning based substantially on nationalistic pride to engage in a race to conquer imperiously or control vast swathes of the globe. Imperialism was utterly bankrupt then. The modern form of nationalistic pride—winning sports medals—is equally bankrupt now, but to add insult to injury, it is also trivial, yet very, very costly.

Success in sports provides a good role model for our youth. Whoa! Get this. Have you ever seen a longer bow? Children in primary schools are taking P. How are we going to deal with that? Well, we will fund Olympic athletes. That will fix it. How stupid! How asinine! Oh, you think the bow is not that long? That there is a causal connection between the two? Well, here's a cheap alternative: let's put posters of elite sports people up in every class room. Would hardly cost a cent. Let's have Michael Phelps up there. Tiger Woods. After all, one young lad recently won the US Amateur Championship, beating Woods's record of being the youngest. Danny Lee says all his life he has been inspired by Tiger Woods.

One of the things that grates most is that Olympic athletes are elite sports people. If they are successful they are richly rewarded—financially. Good on them. But to use the tax payer to fund them to ensure their success is unjust and immoral. But let us also be mindful that there is an army of advisers, support people, consultants, trainers, dietitians, career sports bureaucrats, and other hangers-on who are also all dependant upon the largesse of the government. They will push and shove and lobby and argue to keep the gravy train rolling. Leeches, all.

To every elite or aspiring sports person we need to give a clear and unequivocal message—the people of New Zealand do not owe you success. They don't owe you anything. If they choose voluntarily to support you, good on them, and you. But to take one cent of tax payer's money is to take dirty money. And if that means we cannot compete successfully in a world arena—so be it. Noting of substance is lost. Principled honour is maintained.

To the government, we say, “Get your thieving fingers out of the pockets of the people.” Get rid of all non-core government duties, your vanities, your fripperies, and reduce taxes—for everyone. If you do that, the poor will get the biggest marginal benefit. Take a principled stand for the poor and disadvantaged, instead of bleeding them every fortnight to pay for your schemes of empty vanity and self-serving hubris.