Face masks, Donald Trump and his me-first philosophy
Right now a lot of people are refusing to wear face masks and saying they believe government should not tell them what to do. As the above cartoon points out, government tells us what to do all the time and if it didn’t, things would be pretty chaotic.
For instance:
What would happen if people started driving on the left side of the road because they didn’t think government had the right to tell them which side of the road they used?
Or thought it was OK to throw around hand grenades on the 4th of July because they didn’t think government had the right to tell them how to celebrate?
Or only paid their taxes if they felt like it? (Which is probably a bad example because a number of you might have tried to get away with that.)
Anyway…
If 328 million Americans are going to get along, we need some accepted rules of behavior and that’s why we elect people to decide what those rules are going to be.
But what if our leaders refuse to lead?
Leaders who avoid responsibility
When politicians run for office they say they want to provide leadership and then when leadership is actually required, a bunch of them run and hide.
As dumb as it is, wearing a face mask during a pandemic has become a controversial issue so a number of politicians – and that includes Donald Trump – are trying to keep both sides happy and say they support wearing a face mask, but don’t think government should require it.
Which is kinda like saying you oppose murder, but don’t see any need for a law making it illegal.
When a politician starts talking about how smart the good people of Kansas or Missouri or Bumfuck, South Dakota are and how they certainly don’t need government telling them what to do, that’s a politician trying to avoid responsibility.
Letting people do whatever they choose to do is how we got into this mess.
If all of us were really that smart and well intentioned there would be no need for laws prohibiting theft, assault or driving while drunk. We need rules because a lot of people aren’t that smart or well-intentioned and basically don’t give a crap about anyone but themselves.
Which brings us – as every subject eventually does – to baseball.
Team-first philosophy
When we think of big league baseball managers and what they do we tend to picture them with one foot on the top step of the dugout, staring at the field and making decisions about strategy.
That’s part of the job, but there’s a lot more to it.
Before a manager starts thinking about pitching changes or hit and runs, he has to do some salesmanship. He has to convince a bunch of individual players that the team is more important than they are and the team won’t succeed if the players don’t work together.
The individual player might want to swing away, but the team needs him to bunt.
The individual player might want to be a starter, but the team needs him to come off the bench as a pinch runner.
The individual player might want to be the closer, but the team needs him to pitch middle relief.
The manager needs everybody to buy into the idea that the team comes first. But in reality some guys never buy in to the team-first concept and baseball has a name for those guys.
Clubhouse cancers
Clubhouse cancers never buy in to the team-first concept. They think what they want is more important than what the team needs and unfortunately they’re never willing to be unhappy all by themselves.
They’ll find a teammate to complain to and tell him that he’s getting screwed, too. Now you’ve got two guys who are unhappy and it rarely stops there. Those two will talk to more teammates and pretty soon the team is divided and dysfunctional.
That’s why they’re called clubhouse cancers; their unhappiness spreads.
If you’ve ever wondered about a player who seems to play for a different team every year, there’s your answer: because they cause so much trouble, smart teams get rid of clubhouse cancers as fast as they can.
But what if the clubhouse cancer is the manager?
Me-first philosophy
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis said Donald Trump makes no attempt to unite us as a country, but instead tries to divide us. So the guy who should be preaching a team-first philosophy is preaching a me-first philosophy instead.
The team might need us to wear face masks in public, but our manager tells us it’s OK to walk around without one if that’s what we feel like doing. That’s because Trump wants to be popular with his base, so he doesn’t want to tell them to wear a face mask and risk popularity.
Couple problems with that.
Me-first thinkers tend to be short-sighted – what’s good for me right now – and one of the dangers of being short-sighted is not looking down the road and seeing the results of their selfish behavior.
And since they don’t think ahead they often want things that are contradictory.
Trump behaves like a self-centered jerk and then wonders why he isn’t as popular as Anthony Fauci.
Trump lies like a rug and then wonders why people don’t trust him.
And now Trump doesn’t want to tell people to wear face masks, but also wants the economy and schools to reopen.
Right now we need a leader who’s willing to ask people to put the country first, but instead we have a me-first clubhouse cancer and in November we should be as smart as most baseball teams.
Let’s trade him for somebody else.
This one goes to the top of the favorites list! It's a great way to start the week.
Brilliantly put! And I love the tie-in with baseball!