Apparently, there has been a predictable left/right split in the libertarian milieu over the NFL players’ protests. Ron Paul says nay, but Reason magazine says yay! Read all about it here.

I disagree with Ron Paul that the NFL is merely a private association. The idea that NFL franchises are private businesses is a joke. These are state-capitalist semi-manorial systems that are heavily intertwined with government at every level. With certain notable exceptions, most threats to free speech in the US today come not from the political class directly but from the new feudalism comprised of mass institutions like corporations and universities, with both leftists and rightists alike being the victims of political repression being carried out by these institutions. A possible solution might be to extend the Constitution to cover corporations and universities in the same way it was previously extended to include state and local governments. http://dailysignal.com/…/heres-much-money-nfl-rakes…/

The “cultural Marxists” that Ron Paul refers to are the “Religious Right of the Left” and I share his disdain for them. But his criticism of the NFL players along these lines is misplaced. I generally dislike professional jocks as overpaid neanderthals. But the players are simply trying to protest what they regard as a violent state attack on their people. They’re not just another case of overprivileged undergraduates whining about microagressions in order to show how enlightened they are. I dislike cops a great deal as well, but I disagree that there’s a mass of cops out there running around just looking to murder black folks. I don’t think that perception is borne out by the evidence. But that’s how the players perceive it, rightfully or wrongfully, and they’re just trying to voice their objection. The police state is a serious problem in the US, but not in the way that the narrative is typically framed by the Left. Trump is just a huckster plutocrat trying to maintain his position with his “base” of flag-waving cretins, and the team owners are just modern robber barons leeching off the taxpayers.