Mr. Jones’ rights

THE VICE president’s trip to Indiana this weekend for a professional football game had all the markings of a clumsy photo op. The veep left the NFL game before it could get started—supposedly indignant—after some players knelt during the national anthem, which he probably expected them to do. And, of course, the president took complete credit. Donald Trump can’t pass by any controversy without throwing himself in the middle of it, so he noted for the record that he had given Mike Pence marching orders to, well, march if anybody knelt.

This administration really is turning into a bad reality TV show.

After the Sunday games were over for the afternoon, somebody asked the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, a man from Arkansas named Jerry Jones, what he thought about the whole matter. He said he and his would rise for the anthem:

“We’re going to respect the flag,” the top Cowboy said. “And I’m going to create the perception of it. And we have.” He said, with no room for doubt, that players who kneel during the anthem won’t play. After all, them’s the rules. Or at least official policy according to the National Football League itself. You could look it up.

There have been many in the commentariat who’ve been saying over the last few weeks that this isn’t a First Amendment issue. It darned sure is. Those who say it isn’t don’t understand the First Amendment.

The First Amendment allows you, as a good American, to say what you will, politically. And no government agency is going to give you trouble. You won’t get a ticket from a cop. You won’t have to appear before a judge. (Congress shall make no law . . . . )

And these players have the perfect right, shielded by the First Amendment, to kneel during the anthem. No government worker is going to knock on their door at night and haul them off to jail.

But NFL owners have rights, too. If Jerry Jones tells his employees to stand for the anthem or suffer the consequences for breaking the rules—at least in regard to their employment with him—he has that right. Rights all around! Just as you, Gentle Reader, have the right to tell your boss where to go. Your boss also has the right to give you your walking papers once you’ve done so.

What a country! Cue Lee Greenwood . . . .