Ten Rules in the Game of Life

Life is a game, and like all good games, it has rules. Upon observation and reflection, I have come up with the rules in the game of life as I see them today.

Rule 1: Capitalism and the acquisition of wealth are the most important aspects of life. All other rules must first comply with this rule. The Golden Rule which states, “He who has the gold gets to make the rules,” gets its validity here. To borrow a term from the science fiction series Star Trek, it is the “prime directive.” Greed is good. If there are any conflicts that arise from the interpretation of any other rules, see Rule 1.

Rule 2: An advanced education is the birthright of all wealthy individuals and access to that education shall be controlled by its cost and a patriarchal admissions process. The education of less important classes of individuals will be provided as necessary to ensure that the wealthy have the benefits of advancements in technology and medicine. There will be sufficient education in the trades and other occupations to meet the needs of the wealthy. There should be enough people forced through circumstances to remain under-educated to fulfill agricultural, factory, mining, and similar labor-intensive jobs that ultimately benefit the wealthy.

Rule 3: Religion will be promoted through interpretation in a manner that advances the goals of Rule 1. Religion will be a means of hiding the objectives of wealth acquisition to make those activities justifiable. Under the cloak of religion, all manner of things will be possible, not the least of which will be control and placation of the workers. Opium des Volkes is a dictum paraphrased from the writings of Karl Marx, the German sociologist and political economist who stated, “Religion is the opium of the people.”

Rule 4: Democracy will be an illusion where the outcome of all elections will be in satisfaction of Rule 1. Through gerrymandering, voter suppression, media control, political prosecution, court appointments, and manipulation of the overall voting process, election outcomes will be predetermined. Authoritarian rule will be disguised as being the will of the people, but its true purpose will be to advance totalitarianism.

Rule 5: Taxes will be collected disproportionately from the lower classes. The wealthy will pay few or no taxes while the tax burden will be borne by those who cannot afford the legal expertise to decipher the tax code to their benefit. Regressive taxes will be used wherever possible, and loopholes will be provided to allow the wealthy to advance their station in life. With the proper implementation of this rule, the rich get richer and the poor stay poor.

Rule 6: Laws will be enforced on all but the wealthy. The illusion that everyone is equal under the law will be maintained so that, even though the wealthy may suffer the indignation of prosecution for law violations, they will have an unbalanced set of protections that will result in very few convictions. By that measure, a person found guilty of the theft of one hundred dollars may be jailed and his future employment prospects crushed, and a person found guilty of the theft of millions of dollars can get probation, pay a small fine, and have his record of conviction erased.

Rule 7: Climate change, environmental conservation, and similar issues that will probably not affect you during your lifetime are of little importance. Your ability to make any significant impact is probably minimal and will violate the principles of Rule 1. You need to kick that can down the road and let future generations spend their time and money worrying about such problems.

Rule 8: Medical decisions made by medical professionals are of less importance than medical decisions made by politicians. Politicians are always in a better position to candidly weigh the financial consequences of medical decisions. If outlawing a medical procedure, especially one for the poor, can save money in Medicare, Medicaid, or insurance coverage, it is usually a good thing. If you can hide this motivation under the guise of religious conviction, you get a twofer. You save money for the wealthy and you get the religious right to back you in the election process. Using abortion as an example, the procedure is still available to those who can afford to travel but is no longer available to those with inadequate financial means. A real win-win.

Rule 9: Upward mobility will be provided as motivation for the lower classes to keep them slogging through life and providing services. This ability to move above their current station will have lottery-winning-like odds. In fact, one of those mobility avenues will be the lottery. A select few might also hit the upward mobility lottery through professional sports or entertainment careers. Most will not know how to manage their new-found wealth and they will be easy suckers for crafty entrepreneurs.

Rule 10: Hate and anger are strong motivators and keep the proletariat too busy to realize that they are being exploited. Racism, faux nationalism, patriotic fervor, xenophobia, homophobia, and religious discrimination are excellent distractors. Creating us versus them scenarios will allow them to feel that they are part of something much larger. As any good magician will tell you, if they are looking at the exciting flash, they will miss what’s going on in the shadows.

In conclusion, if you find that the life rules above align with your motives and objectives, then you should continue to vote for the political party that espouses these same ideals. If, however, you find these rules to be cynical and lacking in common decency, you should do your homework and be highly selective in your political choices while you still can make such a choice. Otherwise, it won’t be long before you find that the plight of the Russian, Venezuelan, Cuban, North Korean, and Syrian peoples will be your own. 

The Age of Trump

Like it or not we live in an age defined by a sociopath. In a perfect storm and confluence of events, a man of abhorrent personal qualities caused enough people to overlook the obvious and allow him to seize the reins of the most powerful nation in the world. We had for too long tolerated the greed and abuses of our political elite, so we allowed an unproven neophyte who promised to be a breath of fresh air to ascend to power. To quote John Cleese of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, “…and now for something completely different.”

No politician in American history could have previously survived the litany of gaffs, missteps, and outright assaults on acceptable behavior perpetrated by The People’s Fool. For him to rise within the ranks of the Republican Party, known for its patriotic fervor, religious piety, and conservative ideology, is a testament to the strangeness of the times. To think that a draft dodger could denigrate a war hero because “"He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured." Trump denies that he ever said such a thing but the video shot in Ames, Iowa, on July 18, 2015, has him saying just that. As of the beginning of 2021, the Trump lie tracking machine counter at the Washington Post was at 30,573.

Lesser politicians would have crashed and burned after that one gaff but not our blonde sociopath. Then there was the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape that Trump was able to shrug off as locker room talk. For politicians of previous generations his proclamation that it was his male birthright as a wealthy famous person to treat women as sexual objects placed here for his amusement would have been the coup de grâce. Did Trump crash and burn after that one? Nope. How is this possible?

Then there was the time that President Donald Trump discussed classified information during an Oval Office meeting on May 10, 2017, with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The classified info concerned a planned Islamic State operation that easily burned the identity of an Israeli agent and revealed intelligence collection methods. The Israeli Mossad then issued an advisory that warned about sharing intelligence with the Trump White House because of the cavalier attitude of that administration toward national secrets and intelligence. Trump had his staff first deny that anything had happened but, when faced with facts, Trump bragged that he had every right to disclose national secrets to his Russian friends. Did Trump’s ratings take a hit? Nope.

Now we have the preoccupation with “his classified documents.” Like a child with a favorite stuffed animal, the former president threw a presidential tantrum at the thought of being separated from his toys. He treated our nation’s secrets like Linus treated his blanket. They were his personal treasures. The mere possession of such valuable stuff stroked his ego. He would travel the country with his favorite boxes. His staff began referring to them as his “beautiful mind” materials. The reference was to the book/movie about John F. Nash, Jr. whose schizophrenic mind believed news clippings contained a secret Russian cipher that he needed to crack.

Trump and his obsession with this collection of boxes has also been compared to the Gollum character in The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, who called The Ring, “my precious.” The Ring in this case was magical in that it grants the wearer invisibility. I doubt that Trump would ever envy invisibility unless it meant it could be used to hide from his legal troubles.

In the fictional middle earth that was the world of Gollum, his obsession with The Ring was the cause of his destruction. It remains to be seen if Trump’s obsession with control of “his boxes” will have a similar effect. As they say, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.” This is of course a reference to Wagner’s opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and Valkyrie Brünnhilde (a buxom character) whose final twenty-minute operatic moment signals the end of the world for the Norse gods. In Trump’s case, the fat lady is still doing vocal warm-ups. Trump may in fact be his own "fat lady" as he does like to sing about his activities, even those that dig the hole of his political grave even deeper.

Another analogy was made in an opinion piece in the New York Times by Maureen Dowd where she likened Trump’s attitude to that of King Louis XIV of France who famously stated, L’État, c’est moi. The translation is “I am the state” and was used to describe the king’s exercise of control over all things. It represents the manifestation of power in a dictatorial and repressive manner. Perhaps such thoughts echo within the cranial recesses of our nation’s first true sociopathic ruler. His “beautiful mind” Is beyond the understanding of mere mortals, at least those of us who live on planet Earth and not the tangential universe of planet Trump.

In that same opinion piece by Maureen Dowd, she references the time when Trump’s office in Trump Tower had walls covered with magazine covers so that his own face “stared back at him from every angle like an infinity mirror.” She stated that he must worry: "Without pieces of paper to prove I am important, am I important?"

Donald Trump is but a tick feasting on the blood of an unwitting segment of our society. A veritable smorgasbord of religious extremists, racists, xenophobes, homophobes, etc., became his very own Happy Meal. He has found his ultimate con in politics. As a perpetual candidate, he has tapped into the forgotten motherlode of America’s citizenry. Like a border collie, he herds his sheep with loud barking. He hopes they won’t see through his disguise and realize that he is not the friendly canine who will guide them to a greater America but a wolf in disguise who will have them for lunch, and not in a good way. His sheep are blinded by promises and a false kindred spirit that is the stock in trade of the good conman.

Politicians would normally ignore or disavow racists, white supremacists, Nazis, homophobes, xenophobes, anti-Semites, and the radical religious fringe, even if they too held some measure of similar beliefs. In a normal world filled with normal sane and caring people, these radicals would be a political third rail. For Trump, they represented an untapped resource that would electrify his campaign, and by openly acknowledging support for them, they found a champion for their belief systems. As isolated camps they were ineffectual, but as a collective, they could work as a voting block that would be difficult to ignore. The mob mentality of January 6th was festering.

Current traditional conservative Republican politicians cower in fear of Trump’s cult of human flotsam. He demands that Republicans pay homage to their de facto new leader and, if found wanting, they will suffer the ire of the cult and could even earn a derisive new name. In addition to the cult members, in the 2016 elections, he found enough support among independents and traditional Republicans who were unaware of his true nature to win the presidency. After four years in office, the 2020 election saw that many independents and even some traditional Republicans went in a new direction. The Cult of Trump was not enough to swing a second presidency. I doubt that he will succeed in 2024. He will campaign if only to fill his coffers with donations.

The Donald will always be the Donald. He will not change. His sociopathy is a means for his survival. He suffers no shame, remorse, or boundaries. His disordered mind is like his many file boxes, a collection of “things” he desires for his self-aggrandizement. Unlike Citizen Kane who had Rosebud as a singular joyful memory from his youth, Citizen Trump has no such pleasant memory from his early days, only his magazine covers, his plaques, his trophies (aka former wives, prostitutes, porn stars, and rape victims), his headlines, his video of January 6th, and yes, his boxes.

Trump's Secrets in Hangar 51 Storage

You can almost bet that there are still some classified records somewhere within his span of control. I can imagine him dreaming of the final scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark where the Ark is hidden in Hangar 51, the government storage facility for important artifacts of supernatural and extraterrestrial importance. Perhaps, in Trump's Hangar 51, there is even a love letter from Kim or a thong once worn by Vladimir.

What, Me Worry?

Climate change is proving its existence with record heat, fires, drought, famine, and bizarre storm events. Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom from their neighbor aggressor, Russia, and its authoritarian leader, Putin. The gay community both here and abroad is under attack. Religious fanatics and their political stooges have been able to impose their will and have managed to impinge on a woman’s right to manage her own health needs. A housing crisis looms as more citizens are forced to join the unhoused. Domestic education is being attacked by those who attempt to push their own political and social agendas and push a revisionist interpretation of history on pliable youthful minds. To accomplish this and turn a profit besides, public education is being phased out in deference to a for-profit education system.

Fire, Drought, and Fighting in Ukraine are all in the news.

But, who is in the headlines?

With all the above looming large, what is dominating the news? Donald Trump and his “trials” and tribulations. Yes, Donald Trump, is forever the victim of a Jewish conspiracy run by George Soros and the liberal flying monkeys attempting to destroy him. He continues to play the victim card and enough of his minions are willing to part with their money in a bizarre turn of fortunes. I say bizarre as he is the “billionaire” who, when he first ran for office, was going to pay for everything in his campaign. But now he continually asks for donations from the less fortunate. The perpetual campaign is his latest lucrative con. Trump’s role as Robin Hood has taken a turn as he sucks money from the poor like a cash-greedy Roomba. He’s more like Robin Hoodlum.

After his recent surrender in a Federal courthouse in Miami, Trump’s motorcade stopped at a popular Cuban eatery, Versailles. In a grandiose gesture, he yelled, “Food for everyone.” Anyone would have assumed he was offering to buy lunch for the crowd. Anyone who knows Donald Trump would know better; The Donald doesn’t pay for anything unless he is forced and has lost all his appeals. True to his character, Trump did not pick up the tab for anything that day.

Speaking of hoodlums, The Donald’s troubles certainly can’t be that he is following the partly successful gameplan of his doppelganger, John Joseph Gotti Jr. So far, this “Teflon Don” has managed to maintain most of his non-stick coating. However, just like the Dupont product, if the heat rises too high, the coatings break down, toxic chemicals are released into the air, people in close proximity suffer, and things begin to stick. His recent losses in court may be a sign that the temperature is rising. Forget global warming, Chef Karma is in the kitchen.

Time will tell if this Teflon Don can take the heat. His brother in spirit ended up being betrayed by an underboss, Sammy the Bull Gravano, and was eventually sentenced to life in prison. In John Gotti’s case, it was five murders, conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, obstruction of justice, tax evasion, illegal gambling, extortion, and loansharking that brought him down. He took the Cosa Nostra with him. As far as we know, Trump isn’t being investigated for murder. However, he does tick many of the same Gotti boxes.

Currently, his legal team is like a rugby scrum where everyone is pushing in different directions. In rugby, the front row of each team is comprised of two “props” and a “hooker.” It wouldn’t be a good Trump analogy without a hooker. The teams vie for possession of the ball after it is thrown in the gap between the two front rows. The hookers and props then try to move the ball to the back of the scrum with their feet while the entire pack of players attempts to push the opposing pack backward. Trump’s legal team is not this organized so there ends the analogy.

This is an actual rugby scrum, it could also be a group photo of 
Trump's legal team hard at work.

The crime boss comparison seems appropriate here as John Gotti seemed to be immune from criminal prosecution, not because he was innocent but because he managed to corrupt the justice system. Legal delays, bribery, witness intimidation, and jury tampering were all used to reap three not-guilty verdicts thus earning him the Teflon Don title. Donald J. Trump has also managed to tie up the legal system like a Gordian knot. But this is "Donald the Trump," not "Alexander the Great." We don’t know yet if he will have his own Sammy the Bull betray him or if it will only be a collection of lawyers and underlings who are backed into legal corners not willing to follow Michael Cohen’s example by going to jail.

While it will be of some interest to see how this all plays out, the fact remains that Donald Trump is still sucking all the oxygen out of the room. He is like a car wreck that you can’t look away from. He is like the clickbait that lingers in the margins of the web page you are reading that wants your eyeballs elsewhere and teases you with the opening line, “Alien baby found at fire station has three…” How otherwise sane individuals of modest means can be attracted to a wealthy conman who speaks about making their lives great escapes me. I guess televangelists have been doing it for years. Donald Trump doesn’t care about anyone unless they can do something for him. The moment that person is branded as unnecessary or disloyal they are ridiculed. Donald Trump is so kind and compassionate that, if he passed by an orphanage on fire, he would be the one looking for a bag of marshmallows and a long fork.

It's Duh-Santis If You Please

Casey DeSantis, wife of our Florida governor, would like to have the pronunciation of their last name changed. It seems she would prefer “Duh” Santis versus “Dee” Santis. This would be a wise change as it would match the current pronunciation of our state in many arenas when it is referenced as, “Floriduh.” This descriptor is derogatory in nature as it infers a certain lack of intellect. If that is her intent, I applaud the change.

Florida has been without a governor since before her husband’s reelection. We apparently elected “candidate” DeSantis and not a governor. His only “governing” in the state has been to keep his name in the spotlight of challengers to the de facto Republican presidential nominee, whatshisname. Florida apparently has no housing problem, or transportation problem, or insurance problem, or coastal flooding problem, or gun violence problem, or school safety problem. Florida’s top problems are drag shows, unsupportive theme parks, immigrants in Texas, and woke school books.

In April I visited the Lake Nona Region of Florida. This 17 square mile area south of Orlando is self-described as, “…a trendy planned community made up of sleek family homes, bungalows, and leafy gated communities. Lake Nona is one of the fastest-growing communities in America. Lake Nona is home to thoughtfully-designed neighborhoods, dozens of parks and playgrounds, weekly community events, top-rated education facilities, walkable shopping, dining, and entertainment options, and innovative business clusters.” I stayed in a newly completed hotel in a neighborhood surrounded by upscale homes and new businesses.

Lake Nona Pedestrian Walkway

The Lake Nona Region was however cast on the heap of collateral damage wrought by Florida’s governor and his War on Woke. In this case, despite the ironic fact that Ron and Princess Casey were married in the Magic Kingdom, Disney refused to join DeSantis’ attacks on the gay community. In fact, they actively denounced the governor’s plan. The thin-skinned governor then plotted his revenge by taking away their special tax status (enjoyed by hundreds of other businesses throughout the state) and replaced the district’s governing board with his own cronies in a specially convened legislative session. The Fuhrer of Florida would not tolerate dissent in his Magic Kingdom.

MoeRon and Casey Get Married at Disney
(Ariel was the maid of honor and Goofy was the best man)

As a result of his childish actions, DeSantis saw that Disney would reward him by pulling about $1B of investments and 2,000 high-paying jobs out of Florida. The Lake Nona Region will pay for much of this as it will see other investors, who had counted on the Disney cash investments to make their own business ventures viable, follow Disney and consider other alternatives. Lake Nona is a beautiful area and there has been far too much already built to allow its demise. It will, however, not see the explosive growth that would have undoubtedly followed the Disney expansion had not the governor thrown a temper tantrum like a sleep-deprived three-year-old desperately in need of a nap.