Orrin Hatch’s hidden ball trick

July 24, 2009 by Jeff Scialabba

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch recently provided a noteworthy lesson in government intimidation. In the days leading up to the congressional hearings on the NCAA college football Bowl Championship Series, the Utah Senator published a letter in Sports Illustrated arguing that the “arcane” and “biased” system used to determine college football’s national champion should be changed to a format which is—by his unstated standards—more equitable.

The lesson comes at the letter’s close, where, after having spent the entire letter laying out the case for bringing antitrust violations against the NCAA, Mr. Hatch writes: “Government intervention into the BCS would be regrettable. There are many issues and challenges competing for Congress’s attention. Those with the power to reform the system should do so voluntarily. If not, legislation may be required to ensure that all colleges and universities receive an equal opportunity.”

Whenever you hear a government official encouraging voluntary action from private businesses, don’t be fooled. Mr. Hatch is threatening to use force against a private entity in order to get his way. He would like you to think that he’s not a bully, and that any action the NCAA takes in response to his pressure is the result of his having “convinced” the NCAA of the error of its ways. But such a notion is insidiously deceptive.

Government action is backed by the power of a gun. The government does not have to bring non-objective antitrust legislation to bear on a corporation or charge a CEO with violating bunk insider trading laws to coerce a change in the marketplace. Because of its coercive power, it can achieve certain goals through closed-door Washington “meetings” that result in “private initiatives” and “public-private” partnerships“, or even by stern warnings in popular magazines.

Only a singular solution can end the compulsion: a full separation of economy and state.