Balance of Power in Government, Business, and Sports

Balance of Power is central to the government we formed in our United States Constitution. 

  The Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary Branches of our government form the 3-legged stool that supports our seat of power:The Legislative Branch enacts laws, and in that is its power. The Judiciary Branch determines whether laws are Constitutional, and the Executive Branch enforces laws. Each has one of the three fundamental powers of governing. 

Rarely do they all -- Legislative, Judiciary, and Executive -- completely agree; but, then again, rarely does one sit perfectly centered upon on a chair. Yet, the chair sits firmly upon the floor. 

We are people, neither machines nor static. Our Constitution is a living document in that it must be interpreted and enforced to a meet changing world. Finding an amount of pressure applied, however unevenly, upon the stool legs so that it holds defines our politics. 

So why is it that we insist and revel in a democratic republic for government but not extend this to the marketplace. Why does the floor of an exchange resemble the floor of a legislature? Why is a democratic republic good for outside of our economic lives but not within our economic lives? I often wonder. 

      

So I have looked around for markets that work and have worked through change. I found sports. Professional sports sits on a 3-legged stool: The team owners, the umpires-referees, and the players. Like the fans, We the People view, attend, and play these games. These are an important, perhaps necessary, part of our lives too.

We the Fans expect, and demand that the sport leagues establish & publish the universal rules, that teams and players follow the rules, and that umpires enforce the rules.

We have seen professional sports leagues establish operating policies upon the teams to ensure competition even off the field by how new players can be drafted & traded, how revenues get shared among the teams, and use collective bargaining to get the best athletes to join the sport and particular teams.



The professional baseball league even imposes a "luxury tax" upon teams that exceed an agreed, league-wide limit on total player payroll. 

When groups of players violate universal rules in conspiracy or by trend, when play inflicts unusual, unnecessary injury, the U.S. Congress holds hearings to investigate -- as they have done over the years with the 1919 Chicago "Black" Sox World Series corruption, use of steroids in baseball, gambling in baseball and, now, head injuries in football.

This model -- the professional sports league model -- seems to embody so much of the functions and values sought in government ... and it works. Let's learn from the sports model.

How do you feel about watching or following a sports game in which there were no universal rules or no one enforcing (neither self-enforcing nor referee-enforcing) the rules equally and effectively. Personally, I wouldn't invest my time, money, or interest.

By Steven J. Reichenstein