Monday, August 24, 2020

SENATORS ARE ADDICTED

Not only liberals have remarked that in the last decade or so American Republican senators have become like automatons who act in ways that serve themselves at the expense of the country.  Even Hilary Clinton has said it’s almost as if they’re drugged.  I have an explanation to propose:  running for and being in political office is a form of gambling.

Gambling, alongside the use of substances like drugs and alcohol and even activities like shopping, can become an addiction when its use becomes compulsive and spirals out of control. These addictions stem from two separate reward pathways in the brain that affect our behaviour - liking and wanting.

“Taking risks is part of human nature. Whether it is gambling on a slot machine or riding a skateboard, every day we engage in activities offering both a potential risk and a potential reward.

“We are motivated to take these risks by the release of dopamine. This feel-good chemical activates the same pleasurable reward pathways in our brains as eating our favourite food, or having sex.

“Risk-taking can help to advance the human race when it leads to entrepreneurship, innovation and enhanced creativity. But problems can arise when an increased desire to take risks causes harm”

I would note that gambling not only encourages excess risks, but also provokes panic about changing the standing order, resists new games or changes they can’t control.  But few gamblers realize that they are changing themselves.  At the risk of quoting too much, I submit these cogent remarks.

“Gambling excessively can lead to dramatic alterations in the way the brain sends chemical messages, and gamblers often have genetic or psychological dispositions that make them prone to gambling too much. These factors can initiate a person’s downward spiral into addiction.


“Research shows that problem gamblers and drug addicts often have genetic predispositions for reward-seeking behaviours and impulsivity. The two main ones are:
  • An underactive brain reward system.
  • Less activation of the prefrontal cortex.
Having an underactive brain reward system means that the individual doesn’t experience the same level of euphoria and pleasure from naturally-rewarding experiences as the average person does. They are therefore drawn to activities that stimulate reward pathways more than usual; ones that are enough to make them feel a satisfactory amount of euphoria and pleasure – for example, the high that taking drugs or gambling creates.

“The prefrontal cortex is an area of our brain involved in decision-making, controlling impulses, and cognitive control, and studies have revealed that problem gamblers and drug addicts had less activation of the prefrontal cortex than the average person."

The prefrontal cortex is the location of judgement, morality, decisions, and abstract principles.  Since this is the most recently evolved part of the brain, it is more problematic and unfinished than other parts.  

These scientific evaluations of the addictive gambling basis of two of the most American preoccupations — sports and the stock market — are brutal.  They are close to the basic source of trouble in our country.  The most addictive gamble of all is war.  We are always on the verge of war, externally and internally, betting on who can dominate, getting aroused by the possibilities and excitement.  And figuring out how much money can be made from it.  The war against Covid-19 included.

A relative of mine had her family stripped of nearly all its assets by the father’s gambling addiction — not baccarat in Vegas, but scratch-off cards at the grocery checkout counter.  Though for that one family gambling was a catastrophe, the stakes are much higher for senators, When the gambler is a part of a criminal or mega-wealthy family, the culture can be changed, as ours has been.  

Grocery stores love gambling.  Once at the checkout counter I was urged to take a chance on a lottery and objected that it was gambling, which I considered immoral.  The clerk was angry with me.  The social norm is what counts rather than any “religious” notions.  Bingo is somehow considered acceptable to churches.

State lotteries have looked at the dubious side of such operations and finally concluded — they say “reluctantly” — that the evils of expecting something for nothing and the chances of corrupting their citizens vulnerable to getting hooked were sad but tolerable -- because the state needed the money.  And they raked it in.  Now they can't stop the lotteries without going broke.  In short, states who run lotteries are hooked on gambling.

Farmers, esp in the South, are accustomed to raising crops or livestock “on shares”, meaning doing the labor but giving part of the profit to whomever advanced the cost.  It is gambling on the part of both those doing the work and those loaning the money.  Results are notoriously dependent on the weather, not just crops getting hailed out or dried up, but also the possibility of competing bumper crops in another place or national subsidies.

Rib Gustafson, a beloved local veterinarian, hit upon a solution for broke ranchers with sick cows: instead of a fee, he accepted a share in the cow.  Thus, to the rancher’s mind, he was motivated to cure that cow and make it thrive.  During WWII we all bought war bonds, knowing that we were taking shares in the US winning the war.  The prize was not a bonanza for an individual, but a triumphant end to the war.

We’re told that most people who win big in lotteries, are liable to lose the money in a matter of years because they are the targets of persuasive schemers and racketeers.  If the only skill a gambler learns is to take risks, what else can they do?  But a pair of young teachers in Browning won major money and had the foresight to start a fund for the students, but also to earn major degrees themselves.  I don’t know what happened to them after that.  They are at risk because of world conditions the same as all the rest of us, but for them a gamble paid off big time.

The idea of corporations has softened us up for gambling by fantasizing that the investors are the “boss” of the corporation which pretends to be a person.  This idea takes hold.  Until my last years in the ministry I had never heard a member of a congregation claim they were the “boss of you.”  It was a corruption of what ministry meant and a good reason to get out.  It's a calling, not an employment.

Trump thinks he is the boss of the Republican party, if not the nation, and he has tried to control every aspect of the nominating process.  I would not be surprised if contrarians seized the week and unanimously nominated Mitt Romney.  Trump would be gob-smacked, which is a good reason to do it.  It’s one way the Repubs could escape from being accused of being sharecroppers backed by a tin duck dictator.  I'm wondering how many Senators have decided that they'll try for the turn of the roulette wheel this week, and then cash out to go home -- wherever that is.

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