When the Game Doesn't Have Rules It's Hard to Field a Team

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

I think that's the essential problem in our society and in our politics.

This question is the major cause of my own malaise. It's appears that Everything I Learned in Kindergarten Was a Crock.

Good doesn't always triumph
Truth doesn't always out
Virtue doesn't trump evil
Ignoring bullies doesn't make them go away
Justice doesn't always win in the end

Rules or laws make for an orderly game of life. But a rule is supposed to be evenly applied to all participants. Justice is supposed to be blind. Modern American life teaches us that Justice is not just blind, it is deaf and mute and paralyzed as well.

Drilling regulations are made to be ignored. Geneva Conventions are to be flouted. The Constitution is just for reference. Patients are to be gouged. Mortgage and credit card holders are to be fleeced. Habeas Corpus is folklore from the Middle Ages. Torture is no longer uncivilized. Altering the political process with corporate dough is fine. The 4th Amendment is another myth. Private property ownership is a polite convention.

It's a lot to absorb in a relatively short time.I feel like I have a chronic inner ear disorder and that the universe has become tilted and out of kilter.

My problem, in short, is that I can no longer easily separate the good guys from the bad guys. I now realize how truly silly I was for even believing that there were such divisions. I blame childhood westerns. The rustlers rode into town, stole the horses, the Sheriff got together a posse and then locked them up. A modern movie would have the rustlers riding into town, stealing the horses, and the Sheriff saying to the posse that has assembled "Look, let's just move past this."

If evil or corruption is apparent and it goes unpunished then it becomes accepted, does it not? If there is no consequence for bad behavior, what limits bad behavior? The corporations laugh at the idea of social responsibility. What mechanism exists to stop their chortling?

We lived through a truly criminal administration. No consequences. We have seen wrongdoing that rises to a criminal level in the financial industry. No consequences. We have seen moral culpability when insurance companies kill through rescission. No consequences. Now we see an industry killing vast swathes of ocean life, shore life, livelihoods, and habitat due to corporate greed and shortcuts and lack of government oversight. What will be the consequences?

The most accurate label for our current times is The Age of Impunity. I think this accounts for the great undercurrent of anger that ripples throughout the country and crosses political parties. This is why we have the "throw the bums out" mentality. Who are the bums is always subject for debate, but the people as a whole realize that they, regardless of political persuasion, are always getting the short end of the stick. It is leading to an almost incurable cynicism about our political system.

[chill_wind]

1. Excellent OP.

K & R.

[Odin2005]

2. K&R

[Greyhound]

3. K&R for more "change"...

This has been an issue as long as I've been alive, but the blatancy and scale have escalated so much, so fast...

Good to read you again.
:kick: & R

[HarveyDarkey]

4. Nicely done, great post

[William Z. Foster]

5. k and r

Well done.

There are rules, though - more and more and more rules for all of us, with more and more draconian penalties.

There just are no rules for the wealthy and powerful. They can do whatever they like.

That means that this is about power - they have it and we don't - and not about rules.

That is why we have failed - we try to field a team within the rules, and the rules are stacked against us, controlled by our opponents. "Work within the system" and "be practical" and "be realistic" are some of the ways this is expressed by people here.

We need to field a team now in the real game, the game that is actually being played, that we are being forced to play whether we want to or not - the struggle for power, the all-out war by the wealthy few against all of the rest of us.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

6. I agree when you say

"That is why we have failed - we try to field a team within the rules, and the rules are stacked against us, controlled by our opponents. "Work within the system" and "be practical" and "be realistic" are some of the ways this is expressed by people here."

A lot of this is about the failure of expectations. I EXPECT the rustlers to take the horses. But I don't expect the Sheriffs to yawn in my face when my horses are stolen. That's when "working within the system" become a big no-go.

Of course it is about power.It is class war without a doubt. But the powerful NEED the little people to believe that there are rules, otherwise the jig is really up.

[maryf]

9. But the powerful NEED the little people

And the little people need to know this, we can take away from the powerful if we all come to this realization...Power to the people, All power to the people...

[lfairban]

7. I came to the same conclusion a long time ago.

Can't tell the good guys from the bad guys? Great! That means you are catching on.

When I found out that our efforts to bring democracy to Vietnam started with the cancellation of elections because we didn't like who was going to win, my life changed forever, and that was in the late '60s.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. I want to be clear that I still think there are good guys

they just seem to be in the minority and there are a lot of people who appear to be good guys who reallly aren't. It's up to the American people to start sorting them out and to hold them accountable for their actions. That's why I will hold a party if Blanche Lincoln is kicked out on her ass. And she's just one of many.

By their actions shall they be judged, etc. It is fairly easy to look at some long lines of actions and determine who they really benefit in the end.

[Union Yes]

10. K&R x1000! nt