One board game I disliked as a child was called, “snakes and ladders”. I didn’t like it because skill played no part. One was at the mercy of the roll of the dice, as you progressed towards the finish line. If you landed on a “snake”, you fell backwards, and if you landed on a “ladder”, you leapt forward.
The only way to control your destiny in such a board game is to cheat. You must gain some sort of control over how the dice roll. This may be illegal, but you do stand a far better chance of winning, unless your opponent is better at cheating, (or else catches you cheating, in which case the game may dissolve into a brawl).
Cheating seems to be how the game of politics is played in “The Swamp”, (IE: Washington DC.) They feel they are “the elite” and are smarter than the “deplorables”, (IE: Fellow Citizens). They do not really believe all men are created equal, nor that they should love their neighbor. Rather they feel that they should control their neighbor, because they are smart and the rabble (IE: Fellow Citizens) are ignorant. However the rabble are becoming roused, and the elite are increasingly fearful they are losing control. A storm is over Washington this “Super Tuesday.”
It shows up especially well on radar:
The funny thing is that elite in Washington DC would laugh at the idea that the physical reality of the weather has anything to do with the social climate they create with their cheating, even as they try to sell the idea to the Public that the Public is guilty of causing Global Warming.
The fact of the matter is that Creation is a unity. No man is an island, and all greedy attempts at segregation deny the reality of God’s plan for universal oneness, and do so in ways that stir up actual, physical storms. We do control the atmosphere we abide in, not by throwing virgins into volcanoes, nor by driving about in impractical electric vehicles, but more in the manner that the atmosphere of a movie is controlled by background mood music.
A historical example of the uncanny connection between men’s deeds and the weather appears in the fact that, when Hitler’s invasion of Poland forced even the peace-loving Chamberlain to conclude to his cabinet, “Well then, gentlemen, it is war”, there was a brilliant flash of lightning and deafening roar of thunder outside the House of Lords in London. Just a coincidence? I think not. It is as Shakespeare’s Hamlet stated, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”, though perhaps we should update that to, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Hillary, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.
The elite can write all the silly laws they want in their mire, thinking they control the vastness of weather (Global Warming preventions) and the minutia of viruses, (Coronavirus vaccines), but they don’t control either. They are pretenders.
They are desperate to cling to the powers they imagine they have gained, through their pretense. These words I write will most definitely be censored, though I write them to warn them, because I pity them. Actions have reactions, and, if one reaps what one sows, the swamp creatures are sowing thistles for themselves.
I’ve been addicted myself, and therefore have compassion towards addicts. I am part of a group striving to help youth escape fentanyl addiction. I wish I could also be of help to the elite, but they don’t admit they are addicted. (To power.)
The “swamp” needs to learn what fentanyl addicts have learned. To get what you desire is hell, compared to what you get when you suffer the agony of withdrawal symptoms.
The “swamp” scoffs at the idea I have anything to offer them, but are so scared of hearing me that they censor me (and millions of others).
They call me a “bitter clinger” (though I’ve never bought a gun) though they are the ones who cling, desperately, to power.
They display contempt towards the hands that feed them, dismissing the breadbasket of the nation as “flyover country.” Poor fools, can they not see what they are earning when they bite the hand that feeds? Don’t they see actions have reactions?
I’d like to go off on a long tangent at this point about the laws of Karma; of “reaping what you sow,” And also of “killing the goose that laid the golden egg”. Often it is better to deny yourself than to get what you want (but don’t need.)
The so-called “deplorable” tend to be poor, and must constantly sacrifice just to get by. They constantly deny themselves. Consequently they know of a sweet freedom, which those, who don’t deny themselves, are ignorant about.
What is this freedom you get? The fentanyl addict wants to know. They long to be free of the constant craving. They hunger to know about freedom, but the swamp is craven, and doesn’t want to know. However, as the swamp is suppose to be representing “the land of the free”, they damn well should want to know. What is this freedom I’m speaking about?
What is the freedom? It is the freedom from being controlled by a craving. Rather than hankering for money or power or fame, you can take them or leave them. You are not some child who will tantrum if they don’t get some toy, nor some adolescent who grieves greatly over infatuations. You just accept the Now.
Donald Trump seems a representative of such freedom. He is not controlled by the “swamps” cravings. All he has earned, through his wish to help us achieve the freedom enshrined in our constitution, is monstrous harassment, yet he remains free.
There is something very attractive about such freedom. It is inherently friendly. When Trump visited the border, he did not give the middle finger to illegal aliens, across the Rio Grande. Instead he cheerfully waved, and an excited voice returned from across the river: “Trump! Trump!” Trump laughed, “Even they like me! Isn’t it incredible?”
Yes, it is indeed incredible. It is also incredible that the governor standing up most for America’s integrity can’t stand up. In his wheelchair he stands taller than many who swagger, up to their armpits in the mire of the swamp.
It is incredible and even a little dream-like, and not a good sign for the swamp that despises impossible dreams, this Super Tuesday. Where they were sure they had loaded the dice and would land on a ladder, they see themselves landing in a swamp seething with snakes.
Sunrise's Swansong 
Good day to you!
My name is Federico. Living in Argentina and having stumbled upon your blog, I feel an urge to write a short comment on your meditation about Snakes and Ladders.
Playing Crocquet with friends, my late wife Beatriz was lagging behind, in a rather uncomfortable position to hit the ball through the next hoop. Noting that her three playmates were busy discussing some of the rules, she deftly displaced the ball 10 or 15 centimeters to obtain a more favorable angle.
That Sunday, she confessed her cheating. The priest – a friend of her family – was amused to ask her “in what other way can one expect to win any game or play?”.
Of course, she couldn’t wait to tell us what had happened, and extending the habit at the dining table playing Scrabble or Rummy, she used to add, “So, with the Vatican’s Blessing, why should I be ashamed of what I did?”.
Very amusing, but, of course, your late wife did not answer the question. There is another way to win. And you, as her husband, must look back upon interesting discussions you had with her about other ways she could have behaved. However you likely heard her suggest other ways you could behave.
Personally, I have always tended to have an irreverent attitude towards conventions. At times I confess I have made some huge mistakes, because I decided to try out “alternative lifestyles.” I learned many things the hard way. But I did learn.
Freedom involves pain, but the reward is wisdom.
Thank you for your comment.
Thank you for this unexpected reaction on my comment! The question was (is) rhetoric, in accordance with the confession. Of course there is another way to win!
Not as a child, nor as an adolescent and after getting married and now enjoying three children, twenty-one grandchildren and fifty g.g. kids (so far), have I ever experienced any difficulty in my 92 years of quiet family lives. So I admire people like you, who have overcome many problems.
Nice to have such conversations here,
Cheers!
.&
92! congratulations on such a long life and such an expansive family.
I am very interested on the changes Argentina is undergoing. It seems to be one of the few countries in the world attempting to be more practical. What do you think of your daring new leader?
Back in the year 2000 I revisited a part of India where I spent 3 months in 1974, and was amazed how improved the landscape was. It formerly was terribly overgrazed, but now was green with many young trees. It is amazing what a nation can do when it becomes sensible. All they did was switch to burning propane, rather than wood and dung, and also educate their goat herders.
During that trip I met four young men from Argentina who were wonderfully friendly. They were great ambassadors, and made me like Argentina without ever visiting.
Best wishes!
Good to hear that those visitors to India gave you a favorable impression of Argentina!
In 1951 (when I, of Dutch nationality, became an immigrant), this was one of the ten richest, and thus promising, countries in the world. An Army colonel had risen to the presidency, and was starting to ruin the economy by turning the country into a supposed welfare state. I realize that evil forces cannot be apparent while they are at work, still I find it amazing that a large community can support almost unending corruption and thus, deterioration, during 70 years. Not only has none of the following governments succeeded in finding (or even attempting to look for) a solution, presidents and their entourages during the last 20+ years have deliberately tried to make things worse: one benefits oneself or the country.
And then, all of a sudden, a political outsider, a controversial but intelligent person of good will, reached the presidency and audaciously started to effectively DO what in many of his predecessors had been only propagandistic slogans. Which party leader has ever said “…In the beginning of our first term, we will NOT be better off, that will take some time…” ???
To make a short letter long (pun intended), just one recent episode. Milei has reduced the budget of the Conicet (Scientific Council, please google it if you are still interested). That has moved 78 Nobel laureates to sign a letter requesting the president to review his decision, on the basis of Conicet’s fame). If my information is correct (on some points, it is easily verifiable), the president’s reply was that the government is willing to subsidize projects that can be useful for the country, but not investigations on the sexual orientation of Batman (sic!); I think such public replies are most uncommon, anywhere in the world.
Yes, Argentina now seems to try (and slowly, oh so slowly, to learn, I hope) and deal with unexpected decrees and laws,
Thank you for your question, have a nice day!
Federico