Topic: Governmental Support For Amateur Sport

[Erik Blekeberg]

Yes but, it produced some top shelf commie lifters :P. The best weightlifting programs are from communist or former communist countries. I wager because lifting is their job. Here its a hobby.

I don't view producing great weightlifters as a mission worthy of enslaving millions or billions of people.

I know, I know, I am just joking. Don't worry. I hate to shift topic but, I think the way to really up the popularity of the sport is to get our own Michael Phelps or Bolt etc. We need a star or two that dominates. Then people will want to "be like mike" and weightlifting will get more public exposure.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Agreed, although we had a gold medalist in Tara Nott-Cunningham (forget which name is current) and didn't do much with her. I'd say that it would take not only a star to get public interest but, even before that, require the USAW to motivate the lifters with $ prizes, not welfare-ish programs (i.e., subsistence programs). I don't expect either to ever occur. I am convinced the bureaucrats of all types will maintain their own power rather than surrender it to the athletes. Individualism is dying in America and collectivism is rising fast.

[Erik Blekeberg]

Personally, I believe we need a male all star. They are far more marketable than a female.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I agree, though I think much better use of Tara could have been made in this regard- to her and the USAW's mutual benefit (look at the star power of female gymnasts for instance). I could certainly be mistaken on this however as I am not overly familiar with exactly what efforts were made. Of course, the fact she won the medal after the medal ceremonies, via doping failures of the competition, delayed the press and perhaps stifled much of the media attention.

How do you get a male champion though? Not without pure cash incentives in my opinion. I'd say the same is true in fact in womens' lifting now, since it has continued to develop and is more competitive than in 2000. Lift more weight, make more money. The $500 a month welfare payments do nothing to inspire progress and merely subsidize stagnation.

[Mike Wittmer]

It would still be evil. Why should someone with no legs or arms be taxed, enslaved, to pay for other people to lift weights? There is no such thing as a good tax. All taxation is theft and slavery.

Chris, what about the military?  Roads, bridges? 
Mike

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Roads and bridges should be private, unless needed for national defense and not provided by private enterprise. Defense should be funded by voluntary means only, as all government should- i.e., lotteries, fee for usage (court, police, etc). Remember, we had no income tax in the USA until 1913 and did just fine. In fact, not long after we established the income tax and federal reserve (fake money), we had our first depression, the great depression.

[John Way]

and WWI, and the roaring twenties in between the two

[dabrock]

Your knowledge of economic history is way off, Chris. You had wealth tax and sales tax before income tax I would leave roads and bridges to private corps only if I had a death wish. Oh, and the first depression was not the Great Global Depression, that was just the largest and on a global scale and had to do with greed in the stock market just like 2008. Before regulation and the Fed there were regular depressions every decade or so, real depressions where people starved.