I'm 62 years old and I have some opinions.

I went to school for many years, and I served time in the Navy. I am neither liberal nor conservative. I've been married successfully twice. Each marriage lasted over 7 years, which is the average. I have a wide curiosity about many things, which I usually tend to forget. So I get to learn things differently over and over again.

I believe in rules of thumb, prejudices, and smarts. I don't have much use for academic precision, which is largely an exercise in futility.

I think the human race is basically made up of crooks, suckers, and lazy cowards. Some of us are lucky enough to escape from these roles from time to time. I guess I am one of them.

The United States was finally and irrevocably taken over by organized crime on 911, when a bunch of American Right-wing, Israeli, Saudi and other rich crooks carried out a terror stunt, unique in the history of the world. It was the start of a protection racket called the "war on terrorism". The ultimate objective of this bogus war was to criminalize the world, before it becomes completely uninhabitable due to global warming.

Crooks are basically like termites. They will gouge and chisel at a structure until it collapses, knowing that most of them can escape to another structure whenever they need one. Under present circumstances, the crook/termites are going to have to escape to Mars, which will be no more inhabitable than earth. Crooks are incapable of thinking in terms longer than a fast buck, and that will be the end of them. They won't be missed.

Crooks rule through the use of force and fraud. They are basically liars and bullies who do far more lying than bullying because lies are cheap and the memories of suckers are short.

When people were hunter/gatherers, the crooks were probably limited in their power. People in small bands are constantly consulting and comparing notes, so it is harder to hoodwink them. Even brute force was probably limited because sooner or later you might find yourself dependent upon someone with enough memory to hold a grudge. A rough democracy and equality were probably necessities of life, even in an existence that was "brutish and short".

Civilization was certainly an invention by the crooks. The power of force and fraud could not come into its own until armies and religions could be created. It was up to the religions to keep suckers in line, and it was up to armies to keep lazy cowards in line.

By now, you might have guessed that the rich are the crooks, the middle class are the suckers, and the laborers are the lazy cowards. It may be that some people are talented in such a way that they may naturally tend towards being crooks, suckers, or lazy cowards. But, most likely these types are made not born. Even the most stupid of crooks learn how to mislead and intimidate suckers at an early age. And they are constantly assured that they are special and have a supernatural right to lord it over others. Suckers and lazy cowards are considered just animals or even toys.

The crooks learn manipulation and the suckers learn to be manipulated. The lazy cowards seek merely to keep a job and hide from their misery, which is carefully maintained by the crooks and their servants the suckers.