Monopolistic America: A Nation Raised on the Zero-Sum Game

Monopoly, oh! Monopoly. Released back in 1935, Monopoly became a household board game and over 250 million sets have been sold since. According to the Library of Congress, researchers have concluded that Monopoly “has been played by over half a billion people, making it possibly the most popular board game in the world.” Now if you are somehow unfamiliar with this game, let me give you the short of it. Monopoly is a family-friendly game which has been banned in a number of countries due to its “overtly capitalist principles”. Players roll two six-sided dice to move around the board, meanwhile buying and trading properties. The goal of the game is to collect rent from other players in order to eventually drive them into bankruptcy. I hope you’re gasping at that description, because this is a very unpleasant and deeply-rooted mentality in the American culture. It’s the zero-sum game mentality.

In game theory, a zero-sum game means that one person’s gain is another’s loss. Monopoly, poker, chess, Deal or No Deal- they’re all zero-sum games. What’s the harm? They’re just games, you may be thinking. Well these games, as do all experiences, have an effect on our person and our understanding of ethics or moral philosophy.

Monopoly is designed for ages 8 and up. Think about the developmental stage of young adolescents. “Eight-year-old children are still developing an understanding of what is ‘wrong’ or ‘right,’ and lying or other behavior requiring discipline may need to be corrected.” (VeryWell Family) So not only are we not being corrected when we intentionally try to bankrupt someone, we are encouraged to do so for the sake of winning. Monopoly doesn’t mask this activity with cute animals or candy homes, it is a real-life scenario on a board and called a game. It was banned in those admittedly communist countries for a reason; it teaches our children to become ruthless capitalists.

Capitalism is not the problem here, it’s that we are taught a zero-sum version of capitalism. We learn this in sports, at recess, and most definitely on television shows. It doesn’t have to be a win-lose scenario. As John Steimle so elegantly puts it, “the opposite of a zero sum mentality is win-win. It’s looking for how we can both come out ahead by working together rather than assuming that if the other guy wins you must be losing.” He sets the stage by explaining that, today “it’s competition instead of collaboration, and unfortunately competitive sports often drive this mentality into us that this is the way the world works, when in reality if you want to win big in this life, you need to collaborate more than compete.”

Competition is relative. It can serve as a measure so that we know what’s possible or out there, however our competitors don’t have to lose for us to win. If we are creating opportunities where both parties of a transaction are gaining something they value, then both sides can win. Now I understand that this cannot be applied to every situation, however instead of looking for win-win transactions we often try to win at the cost of others, as if that is the ultimate win.

Americans, myself included, are so quick to designate sides like winners and losers. Good and bad. Democrats and Republicans. This zero-sum mentality has got to find its place and it can’t be the default setting of our approach to real life. But unfortunately in our Trump-run-COVID-looming reality, the zero-sum mentality has risen to prominence.

The RNC was ripe with baseless statements and propaganda reinforcing this zero-sum mentality in Americans. For example, US Representative Jim Jordan said, “Democrats won’t let you go to church, but they’ll let you protest. Democrats won’t let you go to work, but they’ll let you riot. Democrats won’t let you go to school, but they’ll let you go loot.” None of this is true or grounded by fact but rather propaganda and shameless manipulation attempting to turn people against the Democratic nominee. To make the other side lose. Trump childishly claims, “Joe Biden is basically the loch ness monster of the swamp.” Rather than offering strategies and answers, he is tearing down the other side. Spouting off grand lines about our great nation to capture the imagination of those who don’t want to deal with our real problems is not aiming towards a win-win for all Americans. Also consider, why would the President be trying to turn some of his people against the others?

Now if we look at the DNC , Democrats pointed out our problem areas and suggested how we could do better, looking for a win but not at the cost of others. Kamala Harris suggests, “our unity is our strength, and our diversity is our power. We reject the myth of ‘us’ vs. ‘them.’ We are in this together.” She was honest about the ugly reality of where we are and encouraged us to all rise together by saying, “let’s speak the truth: people are protesting because Black people have been treated as less than human in America. Because our country has never fully addressed the systemic racism that has plagued our country since its earliest days. It is the duty of every American to fix. No longer can some wait on the sidelines, hoping for incremental change. In times like this, silence is complicity.” So rather than name-calling like Trump, she and others criticized what their opponents stood for. The attacks were supported by statistics and came from a place of concern for the effect on the American people.

And sure enough, even in a pandemic, people have found another game to play. Masks vs. no masks. For the life of me, I can’t seem to understand why this is even a topic at the moment. Our government and communities care about our health and need to enforce rules to keep us safe. Rules that the rest of the world has welcomed, gratefully. Yet Americans are turning it into another zero-sum game. It doesn’t have to be this way. Looking for loop holes so you don’t have to follow the regulations is just imbecilic.

So rant or remedy? Well I choose remedy and my remedy would be returning to ethics and looking for a win-win. We need to understand what ethics really are and begin to become aware of when things have gone cattywompus. That moment when you pause because you’re looking for how to get around something, maybe you should just shoot straight and deal with the consequences. Eventually, rather than dealing with the consequences you may find yourself making better choices from the beginning.

While clearly defining what is right and wrong is a much debated topic and often not agreed upon, we can at least start with these five points above. When we are honest and behaving with integrity, then we can navigate our differences with a more level head and get closer to that win-win scenario. If we honestly have the greater interest at heart, truly hoping for a win-win, then we can start to celebrate all communities. We have a brighter future but it will not be given to us. We have to do the work of becoming bigger people and making the changes within ourselves and our communities. We have to act with integrity. Lift up others around us. Find the win-win scenarios. And for Pete’s sake aside from game night, take the zero-sum mentality off the table!

Thank you for reading as always. I appreciate you taking the time and contacting me with your thoughts. Please continue to comment and or reach out. Wear a mask, respect others, and keep your head up… 2020 is not through just yet!