The American Spectator

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Another Perspective

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Who cares whether a minority investor in a baseball team lives in New York City? Who cares if he opposed George W. Bush? Who care if he shares the widespread recognition that the "drug war" has been a dismal failure?

And who bloody well cares whether the President comes out to the opening game? In fact, George Soros, though a highly political creature, was not thinking about politics when he joined the baseball bid. Consortium leader Jonathan Ledecky observed: "Not once did any political agenda come up."

GOP Senators seem to have taken a more measured view. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who held a fundraiser at a Nationals game, said "I don't care who owns the team." Senator and former baseball player Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) opined: "That's up to Major League Baseball."

In the midst of the controversy, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig insisted: "This is a baseball decision. It's not a political decision."

BUT SELIG IS TOO SMART and the stakes are too high for baseball professionals not to consider the politics. After claiming that he was not threatening the league, Rep. Davis observed: "This is an opportunity for baseball to market itself to decision-makers." Former Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suggested that the winner "must be a group that knows how to work with politicians."

Which in this case seems to mean those belonging to the Republican majority.

When it comes to policy there seem to be ever fewer serious differences between the two leading political parties. Both expand government power, increase federal spending, lavish money on pork barrel projects, and put their own interests before that of the public at every turn. And these days, at last, the GOP appears to be more ruthless about using every bit of the power that it has accumulated for its own advantage.

While there are few substantive reasons to choose between the parties, there now is a practical reason to vote Democratic: to put at least one organ of national power into someone else's hands. As Lord Acton famously observed, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

The GOP seems intent on proving the truth of Lord Acton's axiom.

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Trade, Sports, NATO, North Korea