re: Thoughts from the nose bleeds

I'm not sure that follows. The people yelling at the refs may be more convinced of their ability to influence those refs than are those same people of their ability to influence their representatives. I'll give you that (though I think yelling at a ref may be more part of the ritual than actual attempt at influence).

However, I don't think that speaks to the ability of the citizen/fan to make arguments about any topic. Specifically, your observation explains why people rant at refs more than they rant at reps. That's a separate issue from whether they can formulate arguments about which to rant, be it to a ref or a rep.

It may be that fans visceral connection to sports motivates them to apply their faculties to sports. I can see that people do not have that connection to government, and there's plenty of outrage that's lacking. But I still think Chomsky is right: the ability is there. It's just unfocused.

But I don't want the issue to be: "how do we make politics more like sports." I think that's already happening. We have too many winners and losers in politics, and not enough Americans. How do we get people to care about things that matter to them, and not just about whether my regional and/or collegiate athletic group scores more points than yours?