The government strong-armed the NFL into adopting a new rule to make players stand during the National Anthem – and it flies in the face of the principles of conservatives who want limited government, former NFL star George Wrighster told Newsmax TV's "The Brett Winterble Show" on Friday.
"This is not just an issue about kneeling and workplace rights, any of that. If you are a conservative then this is an attack on conservatism. And the reason why is the basic tenets of conservatism are low taxes, limited government and personal responsibility," said Wrighster, who was a tight end with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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"And when you think about the fact that the NFL owners admitted President Trump was allowed to influence what happened in the private sector – the government was allowed to intervene and put enough pressure on the private sector that they caved and crushed – guess what? That is not limited government.
"That is an extremely powerful government getting in deep with business and then turning around and saying, 'Oh well, well it's only on this issue.' No it's not. The government … will try to take something away from you now because they have been allowed to. Really think about it from that angle, then it gets a little bit scary."
Last week, NFL owners approved a new policy to address the controversy over National Anthem protests, saying players must stand if they are on the field during the song, or stay in the locker room if they won't.
"We want people to be respectful of the national anthem. We want people to stand," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "That's all personnel, and to make sure they treat this moment in a respectful fashion. That's something that we think we owe.''
Wrighster, host of "The Unafraid Show" on Dash Radio, said more compromise is needed.
The 'Make America Great Again' people, they say we want to make America great again. Ok. [Those who kneel] say we love our country just like the Make America Great Again people, except for we're saying that the country needs to be changed as well," he said.
"Like there's no difference. That's where we have to get to a point where we can argue with each other and talk to each other from a place of love and communication."
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