By Jack Parkos | @refoundinfather

Recently, Nike’s new ad campaign “Just do it” was celebrating its 30-year anniversary. Nike chose former quarterback Colin Kaepernick as their spokesperson. This caused major controversy, upsetting conservatives who opposed his prior kneeling for the national anthem. This was a hot topic last year, and the campaign only brought it back.

The debate sparked as two sides asked very different questions. By taking a knee, was Kaepernick showing free speech? Was it an appropriate cause to protest? Or, was it disrespectful to veterans and active military? These questions were not only cultural questions but political as well. Many politicians got involved, and even the president was in on it. Trump, as usual, decided to take to Twitter to voice his thoughts.

The NFL players are at it again – taking a knee when they should be standing proudly for the National Anthem. Numerous players, from different teams, wanted to show their “outrage” at something that most of them are unable to define. They make a fortune doing what they love…… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2018

The irony of this is that back in 2013, Trump tweeted about Obama paying too much attention to the NFL.

President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name-our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them,not nonsense — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2013

Trump’s second tweet, though hypocritical, has truth to it. Politicians need to stop focusing on nonsense. What football players do on the field is up to the NFL, not D.C. Of course, we can all (politicians included) can have an opinion on it, but this shouldn’t be an issue brought to the government. This should not decide who you elect.

More Important Things are Happening

While all of this occurred, Russia accused America of using white phosphorus bombs against civilian targets in Syria. This is banned by the Geneva Convention. Both sides of the Syrian Civil War have faced accusations of this, but the mainstream media rarely mentions it. Instead, they debate about what to do during the national anthem. Essentially, the media prioritized a song during a game over chemical warfare.

It is time for Fox and CNN to stop acting like ESPN and start focusing on the tragic losses of life that occur daily due to dangerous American foreign policy. The level of attention given to minor issues is blasphemous! Israel has nukes and Syria is more war-torn than ever, but the focus still goes to football players.

Meaningless Debate

While it may seem crazy that this is happening, politicians love it. Think of all of the minor issues people debate over. Liberals and conservatives will go at it for hours debating about Trump and Stormy Daniels but never will mention that the Federal Reserve is inflating our currency and wrecking the economy. Congress passes bill after bill without reading them, but the people are debating about female superheroes.

Politicians love this because it is a great example of the divide and conquer tactic. They can easily pit the liberals and conservatives against each other on minor issues. They will hate each other so much, they won’t pay attention when Democrats and Republicans work together to increase the budget and further the debt. Note that none of these trivial issues affect the state in a significant way, regardless of the outcome. But as long as the state can keep the people occupied, they will not rise up against the government’s real injustices.

This is a threat to our freedom. The government is slowly slipping away our liberties not because they win the fight, but because nobody cares. Every day the debt goes up, but we keep talking about the national anthem protest. The people don’t realize how reckless American foreign policy is. Would they even notice the early signs of another war? More sickeningly, would they care? It’s a question we must ask, and it can be very hard to believe either to be true.

While issues like the national anthem protest deserve some media time, there are bigger, more important issues that should have the focus. What happens if the players do or do not kneel? Likely nothing. What happens if we continue to go into debt and constantly wage war overseas? We do not know for sure, but it will be worse than anything that could happen during the anthem.

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