I suppose my first post here should explain the title of this blog.

"You can't win if you don't play" is a saying created by the gambling industry in the US to encourage people to play the lotto, go to casinos, bet on horses, gamble with cards, you name it. They want poor people to hope desperately to be rich, and for those people to take their money to gambling houses and bet it all away, in the hopes that they might hit it big.

Newsflash: You will not hit it big. You will lose. Gambling is designed to make sure that you lose, and the house wins. It's a mental mindfuck. But you WILL lose. And some of you will lose big. And some of you will lose big, and go back again and again and again to lose some more.

I used to look at this phrase, and feel hopeful. I felt like, as long as I tried, as long as I put in an effort, as long as I was out there fighting, I was a "winner." But that's the game that US capitalism is playing with all of us now. They WANT us to compete, because they can't win unless we all agree to play the game.

Well, I'm not playing anymore. The United States can keep playing its end-stages of capitalism game. It can keep being greedy and selfish, and can convince everyone that continuing to gamble on the USA is a good strategy for success. In the meantime, the government can strip away our human rights with one hand, while robbing us blind with the other - demanding that we bend a knee to a leader who is one of the most idiotic and unkind humans on the planet. You can do that if you want to.

I do not want to.

I live in Mexico now. I buy my stuff from privately-owned stores and restaurants. Even the ridiculously expensive gringo grocery store I go to is privately owned. And it's that way because that's how this culture prefers it. And I'm here to assure you right now: The US culture is NOT the only culture out there. There is more than one way to do things, buy things, and live your life. If you don't want to bend the knee to some wanna be dictator, don't. Just don't.

If you don't play, they can't win. And you can't lose.