We always joke that government wants to insert itself into every part of your life, but it is really the truth nowadays. The national government controls your health care, your retirement, your income, your water, your toilets, your energy, your mortgages, your money supply, how you run your business and even the name of your business. Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark office cancelled the Redskins trademark — the most recent example of federal government inserting itself into the private sector using heavy-handed tactics.
The PC (political correctness) police have significant influence in the government and business arena. I reported last month that Senator Harry Reid and some other congressional Democrats decided to inject themselves into the debate by writing a letter to the NFL and Redskins franchise, complaining of the Redskins name and harassing the organization to change it.
It now seems that the U.S. Patent and Trademark office has joined in the fray and determined that the name is offensive, even though it has been used by the football franchise for decades. They stated that the registrations should be cancelled because they were, “disparaging to Native Americans.”
The continued government bullying of families and businesses is unbelievable. This apparent targeting of the Redskins franchise by federal bureaucrats has an eerily familiar feel to the IRS targeting of tea party organizations. They don’t like your politics, so they punish and harass you.
Don’t believe it is a threat? The closing quote by Senator Harry Reid in the Washington Times says it all,
“Dan Snyder may be the last person in the world to realize this but it’s just a matter of time until he’s forced to change and do the right thing”
Sounds like a mobster threat to me. Reid doesn’t care that 90 percent of Americans in one poll didn’t find the team name offensive, and that an Associated Press survey earlier this year found 83 percent of Americans supported keeping the team name. The new motto of our national government has become quite clear: get in line or be punished, harassed and bullied. Very sad.
