St. Louis Bears? It Won't Happen, But It Should
America cares more about sports than politics. That's not an opinion. It's a fact.
More people know who Tom Brady is than the Mayor of the city they live in.
A Reddit post from a few years ago sums it up succinctly:
NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar echoes a similar tone when discussing how Americans view athletes and intellectuals:
"Both should make us strive to be greater, stronger, and smarter. The problem is that when the average person sees an athlete perform an amazing feat, there's the lurking belief that, if they really wanted to train and practice, they could do it, too. It is within their grasp. But with intellectual feats, some people see that as beyond their understanding and therefore beyond their reach. Rather than strive, they resent. It's easier to look up baseball stats than read an article on melting ice caps."
Abdul-Jabbar is a conservative-hating sycophant who, later in the piece, says, "President Trump is the figurehead of celebrating irrational thinking as a patriotic act." Kareem is struggling financially these days. Verbally bashing Trump and mocking vaccine skeptics keeps money in his pockets. But he is correct about it being easier to be a sports fan.
Researching and attempting to understand politics can be difficult. Which makes it all the more frustrating when people choose not to exercise the easiest political feat: voting. It is the bare minimum of political activity. Yet, voter turnout in this country is abysmal.
Less than half the country voted in last year's midterm elections, which many pundits, left and right, dubbed the most important midterms in recent memory. But everyone has a complaint about gas prices, egg prices, energy costs, interest rates, crime, Ukraine, and George Santos.
Speaking of lying politicians, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has run the city into the gutter. Crime rates are up 61% compared to this time last year. The metropolis ranks in the top 100 of the nation's dirtiest cities. Consequently, it is the country's most rat-infested city (for the 8th straight year). Additionally, Chicago, along with Long Beach, California, has the highest sales tax in the nation (10.25%). Businesses are headed for greener pastures. Old Navy, Banana Republic, Gap, Macy's, and Timberland are some of the stores leaving the once Magnificent Mile. Boeing moved its corporate headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, Virginia.
According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, Illinois is facing a shrinking population due to rapid decline in Chicago and other parts of the state. From July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021, the state saw a population drop of nearly 114,000, making it the second-worst depopulation number in the country, surpassed only by New York. Thus, Illinois lost a House seat in Congress.
This hits home for me because I grew up in Chicago. It used to be a great and safe city. I remember many days and nights when I walked home with both earbuds in my ears, listening to my CD player, with no fear of being attacked. Sure, there have always been homeless people sleeping and pissing in the Red Line train cars. Of course, some street fights broke out (I've been a part of a few). But it's really bad these days.
Democrats alone have damn near destroyed Chicago. The city has not elected a Republican Mayor since 1927. To a large degree, many Chicagoans appeared rather listless about the city's decline. That is until Lori Lightfoot's politics have seemingly run the Chicago Bears out of town.
Since talks about Da Bears moving from Soldier Field in downtown Chicago to the northern suburb of Arlington Heights have heated up, there has been much more talk about politics in barber shops and sports bars. The upcoming Chicago Mayoral race has become watercooler talk.
What really has some Bear fans spooked is talk about the team leaving Illinois. Todd Maisch, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, told the Chicago Sun-Times that if a deal cannot be struck soon, whether with Chicago or Arlington Heights, other cities might inquire about the team. One of which could be St. Louis. They lost the Rams several years ago.
I'm all for it. Let the Bears move. Their annoying fans can move, too. (By far, Bears and Cubs fans are some of the most obnoxious fans I've ever met.) Chicago's beloved Bears moving out of the state would be a great teaching moment for Illinoisians. Elections and identity politics have consequences.
Lori Lightfoot used the power of the rainbow flag to push her into office. Her odds of winning in 2019 were similar to the Bears' odds of winning a Super Bowl. All of her opponents were generating more buzz: Bill Daley came from a family tree of former Daley mayors, Toni Preckwinkle was the Cook County Board President, the popular businessman Willie Wilson had proved he could appeal to voters, and Amara Enyia was securing endorsement dollars from Kanye West and Chance The Rapper.
Lightfoot rode the LGBTQ wave set forth by Pete Buttigieg's Mayoral victory in South Bend, Indiana.
Richard Socarides, a former Clinton White House LGBT advisor, said of Buttigieg and Lightfoot's victories, "The real news is not that openly gay candidates are successful, but that being openly gay has become irrelevant. Here are two people with fresh ideas and a new vision for the future. Voters don't care about their sexual orientation."
When Lightfoot won the runoff election, headlines around the country were dripping in identity politic adulation. "Lori Lightfoot wins landslide to become Chicago's first black female Mayor," was a headline from The Guardian. "Former prosecutor Lori Lightfoot becomes first black female, openly gay Chicago Mayor," writes USA Today. "Lori Lightfoot sworn in as Chicago's first LGBTQ, black woman Mayor," says NBC News. No discussion about her campaign promises, political philosophy, or aptitude for governing the third most populous city in the country.
She faced very tepid pushback during the election. "If you're a lesbian in a Democratic city, there's no hindrance to your election. If anything, there's a slight benefit," said Andrew Reynolds, an LGBT political scientist at the University of North Carolina. Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush critiqued Lightfoot's association with the police, saying she made an alliance with the devil. Rush is a political dinosaur. His words often fall on deaf ears.
To review, a completely inept candidate who was not challenged in any significant fashion during her election becomes Mayor of Chicago. Now, The Windy City is in such decrepit shape, one of America's most storied franchises might leave the state it has called home for over a century.
For the record, I do not think the Bears will leave Illinois. Arlington Heights will probably be the new home of the Bears.
But, if the threat of losing football will open people's eyes to the importance of voting based on policy, not skin color or who someone is sleeping with, then it is a net positive.
Suppose it takes the Bears leaving and the economy around Soldier Field tanking, resulting in fewer economic possibilities for everyone, for people to participate in elections. In that case, that is a net positive for the future of Chicago.
In that context, I hope the Bears leave for St. Louis, the White Sox for Montreal, the Bulls go to Kansas City, the Cubs relocate to Charlotte, and the Sky disband. Nobody watches them anyway.
Imagine how much better America would be/could be with more debates about the debt ceiling than Justin Fields' throwing motion.
