Thank you all for your responses and input. I remain convinced that tax dollars need not be used at DNC/RNC conventions and certainly not at major sporting events, whether it's a Federal grant for security or local tax dollars used to hire the cops. Imagine a world for a moment in which these tax dollars were not available. Would law and order crumble and anarchy reign? I think not. In such a world, if you were organizing a political convention, you would do it in a venue that you could afford to make safe without tax dollar assistance. That's pretty simple. If your party attracted unwanted protestors, move it to private land that keeps them away from the event. No trespassing...simple. If you insist on having your party in downtown Denver, then you'll just have to deal with the protestors. The right to gather and protest is every bit as guaranteed as the right to bear arms. Now, if any protestors begin to break that's what the town's cops are there to respond to. Today, tax dollars are used to keep these protestors from making the Dems/Repubs look bad by keeping them penned up away from the party. Why should my tax dollars be used to protect the image of a political party? That has nothing to do with law and order.
Now imagine the Super Bowl or other sporting event. In a world in which no tax dollars were not available for such an event (Hey, look! More tax dollars for a party!) and were not made available to build the stadium in the first place, I'm quite sure football fans could pay with their own money to have a game. Maybe it wouldn't be the gigantic, shut down the entire city kind of event we see today, but certainly, the game could be played sans tax dollars. If you as a football fan dont like that, image if the tax dollars used for the Super Bowl where also made available to the synchronized swimming championships, the skateboarding finals and the shuffleboard nationals. I bet youd think that a waste of taxpayer money. Now you know how non-football fans feel. And guess what, all those lesser sports manage to have their events without tax dollars. Im an IPSC shooter and go to all the major events. No cops, just private security to help people to park in the right place.
As far as one of these events having as guests "a sufficient number of important folks" to warrant tax dollars, I regard that as disgustingly elitist. If an individual, be it a CEO or a Senator, thinks they are so important as to warrant extra security, they are welcome to obtain a CCW or hire security guards...as long as they do it on their own dime.
It's seems we've become quite used to having taxes used for many things that benefit not the people, but a select few persons. I can image a world in which that's not the case, can you?
