Jeremy Corbyn – As A Poker Player
As the Summer drags its wet corpse to the Autumn a major political fight is on and it involves the soul of the progressive agenda.
Since May 2015, The Labour party got rid of it’s leader and is now in the process of electing a new leader. Into this leadership race enters a person who could be honestly described as a left wing candidate. The years of ‘New Labour’ has been completely lost on this candidate and he is completely at ease discussing Marxist theory.
Jeremy Corbyn is the standard bearer for the left wing of political thinking. As a poker player he would be equivalent to a casino going, non-online player. He would arrive to a game in a shabby taxi, would drink St Clements very slowly and play the game for the enjoyment of the game and if he won that would be a bonus.
Jeremy Corbyn sees the game as an expression of theoretical strategies. He knows that the aim is to in all the chips, but finds the social side as more important. He will discuss Israeli policy over Gaza, US policy over Iran, challenge climate change deniers between the flop and the turn.
Since a lot of poker players tend to be selfish it is quite unnerving for most players to have their views challenged consistently. However, once the other players get to know Jeremy Corbyn they can get him to go up dead end alley’s where his argument begin to unravel such as talking to Islamic inspired political parties who hate gays and atheist.
Jeremy Corbyn does well in pot limit games as his politics need to be kept under control. His views on the march to selling everything and everyone to the highest bidder is wrong is very popular. Yet the right wing will love this guy being leader as it will be easy to scare the bejesus out of the older people who tend to vote heavily and vote for safety first.
If Jeremy Corbyn does win he will have to be a all in player with a pot limit strategy. Obviously his opponents will notice this strategy and will adjust their attacks at which point Jeremy Corbyn will have to resign and pass the chips to a player ho will be left wing but more charismatic to appeal to older and richer progressives who have sneakily voted for the pro-austerity Conservative party, who have then returned to type and are loving kicking poor and disadvantaged people.
Now, those who see themselves as liberal thinking, conscientious and intelligent will not admit they voted for the Tories, so they will take any opportunity they can to justify their betrayal of their own beliefs.
Therefore in their eyes Jeremy Corbyn is the ideal candidate to project their dishonesty and selfishness onto. You can hear them now at dinner parties and coffee shops congratulating themselves on voting for David Cameron and his ‘smash the poor and the welfare state’ policies, because look at Jeremy Corbyn!
So as a poker player, Jeremy Corbyn will have to make some decisions which will either put him in the league of Nelson Mandela or in the league of Robert Mugabe. He can be a transformative figure, or, a guy who wants to message his ego. Either ship the chips over, or, slowly bleed the chips away.