FOOTBALL WITHOUT THE HUDDLE; LIFE WITHOUT THE HOPE

Look, America began as a game. A tough, head-knocking game of who could best survive the World we discovered and decided to call New. In time we found some catchy labels: Free Enterprise, Capitalism, Social Darwinism. But always the same survival-of-the-fittest theme. A theme in which winners are cheered, losers are pitied, and victory is what it's all about.

Using sports as the template by which we understand ourselves has a lot of appeal. Plus a lot of bravado. A bravado periodically enshrined by the survivors into what they call a "movement." At one time, the Whig Party. Later, the various laissez faire schools of economic thought. Recenty trickle-down economics.Today, the mixed-marriage of Republican and Tea Parties.

This omelette of ideas is too complicated to simplify into any one metaphor. But try this one on for size -- football without the huddle...!

To put it in more Darwinian lexicon -- playing this body-battering game without any helmets. Without any planning. You see, helmets and planning and surely referees all smack of being told what to do...being expected to listen to a quarterback's signals....being directed by some sidelines strategies.

Survivors in this game don't much like helmets and whistles, quarterbacks and coaches. Un-natural. Counter-productive. Not the American Way. And so it has always been conducive for the star players in the game to remain stars more than mates. Too much mating can be bad. Communism was rejected as evil. Socialism is rejected as nanny-ism. Even Christianity is given more lip service than support, because of its anti-Darwinian turn-the-other- cheek craziness.

If we give our overall metaphor here some specific names -- like Notre Dame, Alabama, Michigan -- we may get sidelined by the names. Thereby miss the message. The message has to do with the overall sport, not any particular member of the sport. A message that can be summed up this way. No team huddling, no team plan...no team plan, no team purpose...no team purpose, every player for himself.

Now the strongest players like the sound of that. Other players, well, this way they may not even get a chance with the ball. Good way for a few to become stars; a lousy way for the team to win many games. But no matter. Forget the helmets...ignore the quarterback....kill the coach. After all, it's the American Way.