Bread and Circuses

"Bread and circuses," an expression describing people choosing food and fun over freedom, was coined by Roman satirist Juvenal (55-127 A.D) writing about the Rome of his time. Juvenal could have been writing about Americans today.

The populace-distracting circus games of Juvenal's time are today, housed in publicly funded sports stadiums. The publicly-funded new Yankee stadium is scheduled to open next year. A November 30, 2008 NY Times article, "City Pressed Hard for Use of Yankee Luxury Suite," describes how aides to NYC mayor Bloomberg wanted a free luxury suite at the new Yankee stadium for use by the administration. In exchange for a larger suite and free food, Bloomberg gave the Yankees the rights to three new billboards along the Major Deegan Expressway and whatever revenue they generate, and 250 additional parking spaces, originally planned for public parking.

Bloomberg administration officials wanted the best seats in the new stadium, just as the emperor and the Vestal Virgins kept the best seats in the Flavian Amphitheatre, the Colosseum of ancient Rome. The NY Times article describes the observations of a NYC assemblyman: "...what emerges from the e-mail correspondence is a sense of entitlement ingrained in Bloomberg officials."

This sense of entitlement isn't unique to New York city politicians. During the post 9-11 Arizona Diamondback-N.Y. Yankee World Series in November 2001, a handful of Arizona politicians, members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, pre-empted a Valley of the Sun United Way charitable auction of World Series tickets for games one and two. They purchased the tickets at face value and used the tickets for themselves, their families, and their friends.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors had approved a sales tax to help publicly-fund construction of the ballpark seven years earlier. According to the Phoenix New Times: "The United Way subleases the stadium suite from the Maricopa County Stadium District, which is overseen by the five-member Board of Supervisors. The lease agreement gave the supervisors leverage to muscle the charity for the tickets."

One of the members of the Board of Supervisors in 2001 with a sense of entitlement to the luxury box seat tickets was Jan Brewer, currently Arizona Secretary of State. If current Arizona governor Janet Napolitano joins the Obama administration as Homeland Security head (more change you can believe in), Brewer will become governor of Arizona. Perhaps the Arizona Diamondbacks will let her throw out the first ball in the season opener.

In 1989, George Bush used the power of his father's public office for personal gain and privilege before he became governor of Texas by becoming a managing partner and part-owner of the Texas Rangers. Two years later, in 1991, when Arlington, Texas voters decided to help pay for a stadium, George Bush could sit wherever he wanted.

If you've ever voted to support public-funding of a sports team, none of this is new: Juvenal was laughing at you almost two thousand years ago. The next time you go to the game, if you look up at the luxury suites, you might see a politician laughing at you, too.

Democracy. Power to the people. Which people?