Tonight marks the official start of the regular season for the National Football League. The game will feature the longest rivalry in the game when the Green Bay Packers traveling to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears.
It’s unlikely many people in Minnesota will cheer for the Green and Gold tonight, but they should, especially the ones who consider themselves to be conservatives.
You may not know it, but the Minnesota Vikings donated $10,000 to celebrate the inauguration of Governor Tim Walz, who has embraced radical liberal policies like a Minnesota Green New Deal, proposed a 70% increase in the gas tax, proposed increasing income taxes on every single Minnesotan, and he has refused to be transparent about alleged fraud at the Department of Health Services.
Not only did the Vikings officially give to the Walz inaugural, but Ziggy Wilf and two other members of the Wilf family donated a combined $12,000 to Candidate Walz, which is the maximum amount of money they could have possibly given.
In contrast, Wilf contributed zero dollars to conservative gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson.
Personalities aside, there is a deeper, philosophical reason why conservatives should cheer for the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoons: they aren’t socialists.
Unlike the Green Bay Packers, the Minnesota Vikings love ideas that are so good they have to be mandatory. That’s why they spent millions of dollars greasing palms of politicians so they would vote to spend $500 million of your taxpayer dollars on a brand new stadium for the Vikings. This increases the profits for the Wilf family, allowing them to give more money to liberal politicians.
How much money are the Wilf’s getting from taxpayers? A lot.
“Data from the Senate Fiscal Analysis Office shows, under the final legislation, that the taxpayer “investment” in the Vikings stadium breaks down to a $72 public subsidy for every ticket, to every game — including preseason ones — for the next 30 years!
And this calculation doesn’t include the granting of a property-tax exemption for the stadium. Counting that, the subsidy climbs to over $110 per ticket.”
Conservatives treasure free enterprise, voluntary associations, and hard work, not welfare handouts. Therefore, it is unconscionable how anyone who thinks of themselves as a conservative could possibly root for a team that uses the Government to force the residents of Minnesota to pay so much of their hard earned money on a new stadium. This taxation, which is theft, simply enhances the profits of their liberal owner, who then funnels that money into funding more liberal causes. Rinse. Repeat.
In contrast, the Green Bay Packers do not force the people of Wisconsin to pay for their stadium. Instead, they solicit the voluntary contributions of fans throughout the world to raise money for stadium upgrades by issuing stock certificates for the price of $250. Although these stock certificates convey no financial benefit, they are the embodiment of free enterprise, as consumers who enjoy a product band together to ensure the long-term financial health of the Packers organization.
In conclusion, no self-respecting conservative can cheer for the Minnesota Vikings in good conscience. These upstanding conservatives would better uphold their moral convictions by cheering for the Green Bay Packers.
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Isaac Orr is a Minneapolis resident and writes about energy and environmental issues, including mining and electricity policy.
