The House Always Wins

American government is like the house in Vegas, it always wins. The casino business model survives because the vast majority of its customers lose. The same is true of the Democrat Party.

In 1917, H.L. Mencken wrote:

“Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem - neat, plausible, and wrong.”

Mencken’s words are especially poignant when one considers a government that seemingly cannot recognize and solve problems of its own creation, a government headed by an ancient, desiccated mummy of a man dragged from its sarcophagus because his party had nothing better to offer.

Oh, and while the mummy walked the earth under its own volition, it was wrong about every important policy decision it faced over a half century.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal called the mummy “President Costanza”, referring to the episode where Jerry suggested to George that since everything he did seemed to be wrong, that he should just do exactly the opposite of what his impulses told him to do.

The hardest thing for a politician to do is to do nothing.

But there is a reason politicians can’t stop themselves - they gain even if the people lose.

In that, government is like the house in Vegas, the house always wins. As a matter of fact, the casino business model survives because the vast majority of its customers lose.

No political entity understands that proposition better than the Democrat Party.

America was created as a monument to individual freedom – freedom means being able to do what we want as long as the rights of another individual are not compromised. It is also why there is a constant battle between government and individual. No matter your political ideology, the spectrum always runs between individual freedom on one end and government control on the other.

More often than not, government simply uses the guise of “solving” some sort of problem (whether real or imagined) to encroach on those rights and increase their power.

Progressives tend to prefer unsolvable “problems” because those are the ones they can fund and “work on” in perpetuity – never fearing being judged on a result. Wrong answers are accepted as a type of progress – a “Well, at least we tried” perspective.

But in a way, there was progress because in failure, the government gained and retained new power.

Because in every problem exists an opportunity for greater power, the incentive to resolve them is substantially lessened.

Even when the problem abates, the means to power remains.

The same “public health” laws that gave elected officials dictatorial power over citizens are still unchanged and on the books. The same election laws that allowed massive distortion of a presidential election in 2020 are still there, untouched.

How serious can the GOP be if they have stopped pursuing changes in these two realities, especially with the midterm elections six months out and the Biden administration already predicting 100 million Covid infections in the fall?

Do you really think that announcement had anything to do with “public health”?

If you do, you are probably a mask-wearing Democrat.

It gets tiresome to keep posting the exchange between Hank Rearden and Floyd Ferris from Atlas Shrugged, but it succinctly describes the arrogance and effectiveness of the Democrat plan:

“Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against—then you’ll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We’re after power and we mean it.

You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of law-breakers—and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”

Why would government (or a political party) ever want to rescind “temporary” laws, rules and regulations that gave them the advantage?

And where is the GOP?

Well, the are splitting their time between sucking up lobster at the buffet and shoving change into the quarter slots.

If we don’t recognize what we face, especially with an election on the near horizon, we are the pikers in this story.

Silence and inaction is acquiescence.

Something to consider.