After a great deal of tech support from Comrade Jackson of our rival Antiwash organisation, I  thought it opportune to return to the good old matrix game. If you have not come across Matrix game before, the system could not be simpler; each player constructs a series of “arguments” and the proposal is rated by the umpire as anything between “very likely” to “preposterous.” The dice are thrown and the argument is either accepted or rejected. Note that players are free to adopt any persona they wish. The views in this game do not reflect any wishful thinking on our part! In order to keep the blog on the net, only slightly offensive arguments are accepted for publication. Here I give the brief outline of a matrix game phone call on that least contraversial topic possible, a return of Donald Trump in 2024.

“Four years of Biden presidency have not managed to heal the polarisation of US society.”

Argument 1. Far left groups will not be satisfied with a return to powerlessness. To paraphrase Lenin; they have prodded with a bayonet and not found any steel.

Argument 2. The U.S. Economy has embarked on a Green new deal with disasterous repercussions to economic performance.

Being at heart a liberal,  rated Jerry’s argument as 50:50. The dice agreed with Jerry; America was in for economic meltdown!

“The Right wing organises itself in the face of the challenge of the Left.”

Arguments; many are ex-military and have access to networks that have been years in the making.

The umpire rated this as unlikely. The last armed right wingers to face the Federal military came off a poor second in the First Civil War. Besides, the US military is the most powerful on the planet and the US state’s foundation story is based on opposing right wingers, either in the Civil War or in World War Two.

The dice agreed with the Umpire’s decision and there was no militia challenge from the Right. The streets belong to an emboldened Left then..

“What started as a wish to avoid offence leads to monitoring of all forms of human communication.”

Argument 1; Big Tech has shown itself more than willing to join in with cancel culture.

Argument two: The ” Cathedral “of media, education and corporations wish to “save ” democracy from Trump. Time magazine has another cover story.
 

Likely and the dice once again agreed. Promises from politicians grow ever wilder but dissent is quashed and anger levels reach boiling point.

Jerry comes back with the idea of Technology saving the day. Each time the Reds have challenged rules and tradition, new technologies have come to their aid. Argument one was more an example. Covid lockdown has exposed the sheer number of people who are quite content to stay at home if they are frightened or comfortable enough. Argument two was a Matrix reference, “taking the red pill” and seeing the true reality has always been an unpopular option. A.I. and bots keep the population docile.

The dice agree: people stay apathetic but only obey those laws that are enforced e.g. people stick to speed limits but stupify themselves with drugs. The consequences of speaking out are too great for individuals to risk- like Christians in the declining Roman Empire- they people pay lip service to authority but no one believes in the system enough to actively defend it if a shock comes.

Jerry and I discussed long and hard what the shock might be? I mentioned another pandemic, briefly considered a zombie apocalypse but we went with a military challenge from China over Hong Kong.

Jerry proposed that China sees its time has finally come! So many wars on terror, drugs or evil have come and gone, people will not sign up. China was the only country in 2020 to have a positive GNP and their stooges in  the Swamp can’t see that Christmas is coming and they are the turkeys, nicely fattened by Chinese grain.

Even the dice were C.C.P.infiltrated! The second Cold War had turned hot. The recruiting offices were deathly quiet and Corporate America scrambles to wring the last dollar out of the economy.

I thought I’d head for a resolution here with some common ground between Right and Left:

“A patchwork of city states is created. “

Each mini state is run like a corporation- modern day cameralism. There is no internal democracy , only the right to leave at any time. New technology allows the building of massive structures on the ocean bed. Democracy has finally ground down to this!

The verdict was “not likely” but the die decided that humanity had a marine future!

It had been a mentally challenging exercise. I leave it to you to decide whether it likely that Donald Trump comes back to save the day? It’s funny how these matrix games can throw up the strangest of ideas. We started from the news of Trump’s non-impeachment and ended with a war with China and the flight of population to the ocean! Jerry was vindicated in his mistrust of big corporations and I felt like a very old man warning about what happens when you break the “nomos” or natural rules and laws that support civilisation. It’s back to toy soldiers for me this week, matrix games can be upsetting!