Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 08:33 pm
Sen. Bernie Sanders called out the USOC for dressing America’s best athletes in uniforms made in China.
In a statement, Sen. Sanders said,
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The Olympics are a time when Americans take great pride in our nation’s top athletes as they strive for gold. At a time when millions of Americans are unemployed, there is no reason why U.S. Olympic uniforms are not being manufactured in the U.S. This action on the part of the U.S. Olympic Committee is symbolic of a disastrous trade policy which has cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and must be changed.
All hell has broken loose in Congress as Republicans, Democrats, and America’s favorite socialist, Bernie Sanders all agree that this is a serious load of bulls**t.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has suggested that uniforms be burned, “They should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them.”
The USOC’s Patrick Sandusky took to Twitter to call the outrage expressed by Sanders, Harry Reid, John Boehner, and many others “nonsense.” Sandusky tweeted, “All this talk about Olympic uniforms made in China is non sense. Polo RL is an American company that supports American athletes.”
Ralph Lauren may be an American company, but according to ABC News there isn’t a single piece of the U.S. uniform that was made in the United States. Not one stitch of stars and stripes red, white, and blue, comes from the U.S.A.
Sen. Sanders nailed the reason why this story resonates with so many Americans right now. U.S. Olympic uniforms were also made in China in 2008, but the difference being that the American economy hadn’t completely fallen off a cliff in the summer of ’08.
With the economy being as bad as it is Americans are beginning to ask, why don’t we make things here anymore? The fact that Team USA will be sporting threads made in China represents the decline of American power and manufacturing prowess.
At its heart this isn’t about Olympic uniforms, it is about the death of American manufacturing. It is about a Republican nominee for the presidency who outsources jobs, praises China, and got rich by not making anything tangible.
As Americans swell with patriotism and root on our heroes on with chants U-S-A U-S-A, we should remind ourselves that beneath that gold medal that will hang around triumphant necks will be the phrase, “Made in China.”
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
