I’ve been meaning to pose a question here for some time. Can you think of any major sport played competitively for record capable of being played credibly without referees?

Golf? The major tournaments take place under the scrutiny of cameras and spectators forming a public opinion more punishing than anything the wearers of striped shirts can mete out. Still, while I’m not a golfer, I’m willing to bet the PGA has some unobtrusive folks standing nearby counting strokes and watching what’s going on. Woe to those who fail to follow the rules.

Bowling? Whether or not the pins fall is obvious, but even bowling has an electronic referee in the form of the foul signal sounding if a bowler goes too far down the lane. Plus, someone, somewhere is recording the scores and setting the schedule.

What does this mean to you and why are you reading about sports officiating in a political op-ed column? The reason is simply this. Individual sports may have seeming exemptions, but team sports cannot be played satisfactorily unless referees are present and actively doing their jobs. The ultimate team and individual sport in this country is economic activity. Lately the referees seem to have been letting us down. Why is this? What universal lessons can we learn from comparing the regulation of sports competition with the regulation of economic activity?

A sport involves competition between two or more competing teams. Each of those teams seeks to win. We don’t enjoy watching sports because there is no conflict. We enjoy watching the conflict itself. We want to see which competitor can prevail within the bounds of the rules set for the sport. The role of the referee is not to favor one team over another. The role of the referee is to enforce the pre-arranged rules equally.

Similarly, the economic world we live in will always have conflict. Labor conflicts with management. Manufacturers compete with Dealers. Dealers compete with one another over consumers. Buyers compete with sellers. Providers of goods and services compete with consumers.

If we will always have competition and conflict, then . . .

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