U.S. Rep. Katie Porter became a social media celebrity by brandishing a white board at congressional hearings to dissect CEOs and break down complex figures into assaults on corporate greed, a signature image that propelled the Democrat’s U.S. Senate candidacy in California.
The progressive favorite known for spotlighting her soccer mom, minivan-driving home life was trounced in Tuesday’s primary election to fill the seat once held by the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, finishing far behind Republican Steve Garvey and fellow Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff.
Porter didn’t go down quietly. She immediately pointed a finger at “billionaires spending millions to rig this election.” That claim resulted in a brutal social media backlash from many who were happy to depict the congresswoman as a graceless loser.
Perhaps chastened by the criticism, Porter later clarified her initial statement to say she didn’t believe the California vote count or election process had been compromised, but she didn’t recant her earlier remarks. Rigged, she said in a follow-up, “means manipulated by dishonest means.”
Nah. We can pick the game, but we cannot change the rules.
I’d rather play a different game than the one I’ve been playing for the past 10+ years with no satisfactory results.
Can’t keep doing the same thing expecting different results.
No, the rules are (mostly) open to change, but you don’t get to pick a new game. Physics is what it is, the immutable ground rules of the game, and it’s the only game in town. Everything above that, the social reality that is most of what people think about and engage with, can be changed, but you do have to invest a lot of energy to shift the inertia of the existing system.
Of course you can change the rules. Or even better you can change the game.
Rule 1 of life … never play somebody else’s game by somebody else’s rules 'cause you’ll lose every time.