Games Of Chance

I often talk about how I'm pretty much of a nihilist, and not just in the funny meme way. I truly see the absurdity in everything, and I realize how very little of the things we get invested in actually matter. I observe, I get mad, or a twinge of annoyance at times, then I chuckle to myself and go on my way. I sleep well at night, and I make jokes all day.
There is no better example of the absurdity and futility than politics. It's not for the faint of heart. It's infuriating, it's awash in lies and deceit, it's corrupt and rigged, and it will almost always break your heart.
That's why political junkies are so into it. There's so much risk and little reward in getting invested in it, and the excitement in gambling is always the risk. Real gamblers don’t really care that much about the prize, they just lose all again as soon as they can. Like gambling, there are a lot more casual political junkies than real, full blown addicts. That's why the media has been able to sell it to us as entertainment. That's why people who have very little understanding of the process are now involved in it, because it seems exciting and fun and gives them a sense of purpose or participation.
That's where casinos make the bulk of their money. On casual gamblers, people who have no idea about odds, or about winning percentages. People who think they are winning when they only lose the couple of hundred they expected to lose when they walked in, and even justify it when they lose twice that much and consider themselves lucky. How do you explain to someone that's happy to lose that they are aligning themselves with tyrants and thieves who don't have their best interests at heart?
You can't. They aren't in it to win, they are in it because it's been sold to them as something exciting and sexy. It appeals to their baser instincts, and logic and reason have no place there. You have to keep up that appearance too, so you create turmoil and controversy to make it seem new every week. The same way the casino keeps coming out with new slot machines, or the lottery keeps changing the scratch off themes, when it's essentially the same game every time. It's the same exact thing in a different wrapper, and if that doesn't sum up politics, I don't know what does.
It's unfortunate that so many people have to suffer and die while all these games play out right in front of us. We all scream how poverty and corruption and people dying with no healthcare and children in cages is unacceptable. The fact is, all that and so much more obviously is acceptable. It still goes on, every minute of every day. We accepted it a very long time ago, and politics make us feel like we are doing something about it.
The people on the right feel vindicated now, and the pendulum is swinging again, and soon enough this administration will be charged and get what's coming to them. It's not going to be jail and firing squads, though, not for the real power players. It will be impeachment and censure at best, just one more way politics will break your heart. There are no real consequences for the truly rich and powerful, not like for you and me. Sure there will be a few token sacrifices, but that’s soldiers are for.
In four years the country will be back to a liberal majority running the government, but what is really going to change? Real social change happens regardless of politics. Politicians go the way the wind blows, not the other way around. No politician has ever passed a bill about civil rights or abortion or any other delicate social issue because they wanted to. They see those issues as a tool, and they act according to what best serves them, but we think that they are serving us.
The whole point is that most of what the people who casually follow politics sees is pointless. They see outrage and hyperbole, and what infuriated or made them happy this week is forgotten with the next news cycle. That's all by design, and it's pretty much automatic these days. I don't think half of the people in office even realize what they're doing, they are just conditioned to play a game they don't even fully comprehend.
That's why it's so absurd, and that's why most of it doesn't matter, and that's why the few things that really matter never change. Most of us are in the casino, mesmerized by the flashing lights and steady din, not in the backroom where the real money and power are. As long as we're content to be thrilled by chance, and willingly lose and call it winning, nothing is really going to get better.