[Rant] Clever Play Vs Dick Moves and Markets

I like to play board games, and not the regular "Monopoly" version either, but hard core multi piece multi rule, on rare occasion multi day board games. Indeed, before my friend went feral, I used to go play board games every other monday night with a crowd of very intelligent, very talented individuals. Bear in mind that while I was raised on card games and board games as a familial 'rite of passage' I was often considered a 'dabbler' by some in this crowd because they took it rather seriously.

Thus, you can be assured that this is a crowd that takes things like rules seriously. Now in my observation of the culture of the games as played, there was a serious amount of respect paid when someone successfully navigated the rules in creative and innovative ways. Specifically, finding combinations of things whilst keep track of a seeming infinite number of moving variables made game play better for everyone because it made things seem more challenging but it also forced you to do better. This seemed (to me) particularly true with games that used heavy amounts of strategy with just a tiny bit of randomization.

Conversely, certain styles of moves were basically regarded as 'broken' beyond measure. If a rule was so good that it made the game basically unfun for anyone who didn't make it and was obviously either not playtested or just, well, stupid, it was generally tossed in the rubbish bin where it belonged. It is difficult to say exactly what the litmus test for this was; after all I'd seen some games where the qualification might be ignored because it was well enjoyed, whereas another seemingly innocuous rule was widely reviled and hated by all, but I think by and large it required a combination of loathing from all the participants as well the basic perception that it was not only blatantly unfair but also made the game 'unfun.'

Markets are powerful tools. We should reward people who play the game well because it helps make the entire system more vibrant. Having said that, at some point, certain features of a market are quite arguably called 'dick moves' that serve no one but people abusing the system. And lets be honest here, that's what it is...abusing the system. Markets for profit might not be 'fun' but a society is not, contrary to the claims of libertarians, only about the individual. After all, to quote the movie "Cloud Atlas"..."An ocean is composed of a sea of drops." There is no 'collective' that does not also consist of individuals, and a 'dick move' in a market is an unconcionable slander on those who participate in it.

The real question is, how is such a move enforced?

Well therein are certain problems. In a highly stratified society, the golden rule applies. Those with the gold, make the rules. This is the nature of humanity and virutally all civilizations in the history of man; the question is HOW MUCH power you allow the upper levels of society to have....but if the upper levels of society get to make the rules, of course they are going to make rules only for them.

Imagine if you will, at my friend's house, if all the games we played were tilted to his advantage (far from the case in actual reality since he was an excellent host who routinely stepped out of the way for someone else who wanted to play) and if someone did manage to find a clever combination to benefit themselves, that he tilted the field to make things better for himself...People would get fed up rather quickly and stop coming.

Now, in a system based on our own rather flawed constitution, with winner take all elections and the presumption on the power of the states, with tiny legislatures that are easily bought by ALEC and billionares, why then should we assume that markets function properly when they only benefit a few? Some argue that "Rule of Law" means we just have to obey this...others argue about how we need to protect the minority, whilst in the same breath arguing about the flaws of Affirmitive Action.

Are you in favor of allowing unjust protections for a minority or not? Or is it that you only want economic benefits that only serve you or your tribe? The great irony of our times is, of course, that there are many who argue for the justice of markets that benefit none but a tiny majority, not because of economic self interest, but because of a subconcious affiliation to regional politics and the tribalism that this entails. Think I'm wrong?

Well, I don't, but that's another subject for another time. Let's just say that I'm not the only one that thinks that and tribal motivations are strong.

But common sense does indeed demand that in a normal situation, if you wanted to have fun, you wouldn't keep showing up at the house of someone who rigged the rules only for their benefit, but if, in the interests of 'privitization' 401K's replace pensions, and social security is privatized and sacrificed on the alter of wall street, then you play at one house...or die.

Because really that's what libertarians are advocating about the so called Constitution of the United States, that I didn't vote for, nor did anyone living. The document is so difficult to amend that we will continue with rigged rules and either must leave the country (which is very difficult to do) or simply sit, trapped by their manufactured arguments crafted by billionares without any interest in mind.

They (Republicans and many sympathetic libertarians) say 'wealth redistrubtion' is highway robbery, and yet tactically feel that their only way to win is to have Citizen's United, which allows them to spend unlimited money in markets. They speak of rights in that only the government shall be restricted, but never the individual, as if only a government can imprison someone in poverty.

The idea that rights are only restricted to natural rights is ludicrous. The argument that only the government can imprision or take your life is also false since if medical necesity or wage stagnation forces you into a job you do not want, you are just as imprisoned by the so called 'free' market as if you were in an actual prison.

Snarky, clever libertians would argue, "Well be stuck in prison for a while and see how different you feel?"

To which I counter, be stuck in a minimum wage job working at Wal Mart at age 55 and we'll see.

Societies and cultures are formed by rituals and by rites...in ancient times in some cultures this was a walk about or a time of solitary contemplation. What rite can we enact to ensure the arrogance of willful deniers of reality must recognize their sins against their fellow man?

The irony in all this is that some of these people are indeed incredibly generous to charity. I speak not of the laughable illusion that donations to their favorite religion are charity, but a genuine effort on their part to give back to society, and to such individuals I laud and approve their efforts but they do seem to be in the genuine minority in the cause of their fellow liberatarians. We as a society must choose whether we want to reward someone who rigs the game to their favor (the exact opposite of a free market) or the individuals who actually contribute to society.

[Rant] Repost of a Video by FIRE

I don't hold Rush Limbaugh in the same category as anyone else mentioned in the list 3/4's of the way through this. Rush is a professional liar and a man who makes his living yelling fire in theater and then selling exit tickets as people try to get out. I also am questioning the "value added" of unlimited free speech in society. After all, I'm sorry, but lies don't seem to add value to society and fostering lies doesn't add much either...having said that, I think that the video and FIRE in general seems to make an excellent point, which is that universities exist as a sharing point of ideas, and even lies should be permitted there because the whole point of broadening the educational experience is exposure to the new. More over, Universities are often draconian in their enforcement of speech codes and the like. Tolerance achieved through denial of reality is no better than descration of the value of science by denial of reality. You MUST hear what it is you don't want to hear, or you will end up harming both yourself and those around you.

[Phil] My Review of Common Sense by Thomas Paine

My impression of Mr. Paine has only gone up the more I have read about him. He is truly a man ahead of his time, and is not at all the sort that is often made out by Libertarians in their view of our founding fathers...well that is to say, eastern libertarians as compared to western style libertarians. Thomas Paine was no only liberal, but he was radically liberal for his time and his actions have caused me to change my planned reading of Keyes major economic treatise and instead replace the work (part of my 2012 goals) with "The Age of Reason" with a full intent to read, "The Rights of Man" in early 2013.

The purpose of Common Sense was to energize the common folk of the colonies of the America (the British colonies) to revolt against the monarchy, and to reject the concept of monarchism in general. What suprised me the most about the work were its strong biblical ties to the point that a significant portion of the document deals with religion and the current interpretation of the Bible. Nevertheless, this was brilliant on Paine's part, since his intended audience readily accepted religion and knew the Holy Bible quite well.

The core of his early arguments against the monarchy come from the Old Testament, and the well documented struggle between the early Israelite prophets and the desire of the Israelites to have a king, 'like everyone else.' Indeed, the bible is chalk full of anti monarchist statements, especially in the old testamant. And the arguments are strong ones....which were later countered by the concept of the Divine Right of Kings. As if, somehow, God himself endowed these individuals with superior and moral judgements...

But the biblical and historical record simply do not bear this to be the case, as Paine rather skillfully points out. His attack on the ludicrous idea of a heritary monarch is also quite skillful. Indeed, when you think about it, how often is the quality of greatness that thrusts an individual to prominence, either by work, chance or connection ever repeated to the next generation?

At best such individuals are usually a shadow of the former except in a very few cases where someone is brought up almost by birth to be a replacement in a family business, but even in such cases, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The concept of the monarchy is rather thoroughly and logically trashed by Paine, including the idea of a limited monarchy (especially a hereditary one) since historically such things tend to be unwieldy....if the monarch has any real power.

He spends the second part of the pamplet talking about America's potential, which is enthusiastic and great...though not as ground breaking as the first portion in the eye of time. Having said that it was still vital to awakening the common folk about what America could do and what it could be, and how the attempts at redress were folly at that point, and how a congress was needed to unite the people.

On the whole, the document is rather impressive and well constructed, but directly itself doesn't add much insight into my greater attempts at personal philosophy except shooting dead any fringes or romantic notions about Kings and Queens.