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“Being a man who served in the US Army i salute you and am proud of what you did and are doing I served to defend the constitution and your right to practice them. Thank you for using the rights my brothers and sisters died for. you honer us. Thank you! Hooah!” an unedited statement of support on football player Colin Kaepernick’s Facebook page declares.

He’s wrong that Kaepernick’s use of such events and facilities for personal purposes is a right, or that such actions honor Americans who are grateful for what the flag represents and the sacrifices made to keep it waving. Putting on a team uniform and appearing at an event paid for by others means you’re no longer representing yourself, you’re representing those employing you.

When you accept the responsibility of representing a group, your obligation is to represent the goals and the mission of that group. As I noted in “Who Speaks for Oath Keepers?” I have a right to write about any topic I please – just not wherever I want. This is the Oath Keepers site. If I write anything not in the best interests of this organization, Stewart Rhodes and the board have the right to remove it and to boot me out. The same goes if I conduct myself offsite in a way that could bring discredit to the group, and that’s even codified in the Bylaws:

“Oath Keepers reserves the right in its sole discretion, to withhold, deny, or revoke the membership or associate membership of any person whom Oath Keepers determines will dilute, impair or disrupt Oath Keeper’s mission, dishonor, or in any manner bring ill repute to Oath Keepers.”

Players would not be doing this if the enablers behind them did not find national divisiveness, increased racial agitation and cultural transformation advantageous to their interests. That team owners and the NFL have not shut down players hijacking media attention to promote their own political sentiments – sentiments that are irreconcilable with and deeply offensive to the beliefs of many Americans – speaks to the gutlessness, the lack of principle and/or the insidious motives of those supposedly running the show. If owners and the league had refused to accept such disruption the first time it happened, they would have issued a clear and unequivocal rule that if athletes want to play and keep earning millions of dollars, they’re not going to use the branding they appear under for unauthorized purposes.

Then again, it’s not the first time the league has allowed its symbols to be appropriated to advance a subversive agenda: Remember when Michael Bloomberg and Thomas Menino were allowed to use Giants and Patriots jerseys with NFL logos and team hats to stump for citizen disarmament?

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NFL proudly promoted such propaganda on its website.

NFL is also being utterly inconsistent and disingenuous, because they claim the power to control player conduct when it comes to the Second Amendment:

“Discipline may be imposed in any of the following circumstances: …Possession of a gun or other weapon in any workplace setting, including but not limited to stadiums, team facilities, training camp, locker rooms, team planes, buses, parking lots, etc., or unlawful possession of a weapon outside of the workplace…”

Admittedly, it’s not like a good number of those players don’t have problems controlling themselves.

And it’s not just the players NFL doesn’t trust. A couple years back, my wife won some preseason tickets to see the Browns, and while I normally couldn’t care less, she wanted to go. Not only did they not allow our collapsible umbrellas for the walk back to the car in the rain, purses were verboten — they wand you and make women put stuff in a clear plastic bag, claiming “enhanced public safety.”

A year ago I wrote “expect the Kaepernick-inspired protests to continue – he wasn’t forced to apologize or be fired on the spot as an example to others, and once you give up control like that, the momentum is just too big to stop. And expect the phenomenon to grow…”

It was hardly prophetic — anyone with eyes and half as brain could see it, and that brings us to where we are today: Pampered useful idiot millionaire athletes doing an in-your-face to an America they libel as “racist,” and doing it on foreign soil. And it’s being allowed and encouraged to spread to “America’s pastime.”

President Donald Trump is on to something when he notes “If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!”

I’d take it a step further: The last thing Americans (and particularly American men) need is agenda-spreading bread and circuses, either paying for the “privilege” or wasting hours in front of the telescreen. With the accelerated pace the Republic is being internally subverted, and with the enhanced and extended dangers that appears to be making inevitable, I’m sure we could all find more productive uses for our limited time and resources.

Also see:

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If you believe in the mission of Oath Keepers, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, please make a donation to support our work. You can donate HERE.

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David Codrea’s opinions are his own. See “Who speaks for Oath Keepers?”