We all like to win and we realize going into a game that there are rules. But if you’re losing, it’s not as much fun. In politics and government, if you’re losing, it’s not just no fun, it’s sometimes aggravating to the point that you are desperate. The question becomes, “What can I do to turn this around?” Easy answer: change the rules or just outright break them. That’s what Republicans are now doing. The rules, in this case, include the Constitution and the laws that we have enacted since 1776. For example:

Generally states redraw districts every ten years after a census. But Texas Republicans didn’t want to wait. They redrew their Congressional map this year, gerrymandering it so that more Republicans can win districts. This, they hope, will insure a Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Their actions are becoming a precedent for other states.

ICE is taking people from work sites, hospitals, off the streets and from the halls of courthouses without any evidence that they have committed a crime using the excuse that they’re in this country illegally. These people are detained without being able to defend themselves as is their right on American soil.

Elections in various places where Republicans have lost, North Carolina, for instance, have been challenged. Voters and ballots have been called into question after the fact. But the districts accused were carefully selected targeting those that were won by Democrats.

Congress has its rules, too. For instance, the National Emergencies Act requires committees to report a bill to terminate a national emergency within 15 calendar days after its introduction and referral, and a floor vote on passage must occur three days later. But, if the calendar day never turns over, this doesn’t apply. In April, Trump invoked the National Emergencies Act to enact his tariffs. Democrats were prevented from dealing with whatever “national emergency” there was because Republicans said that they would no longer go by calendar days. Instead, the entire session would be one long day.

Colleges, law firms, and media companies are being accused of various infractions and threatened with law suits that would completely obliterate them. But, if they pay up and toe the line, they will be spared.

Remember when President Obama was upset because the Secret Service made him hand over his Blackberry? Now President Trump goes on social media daily and says things that obviously haven’t been fact checked or vetted. Pete Hegseth shares military moves with his wife and whoever is on his “friends” list over an insecure line. But what about Hillary’s emails?

The Hatch Act prohibits government employees from accepting gifts from an individual or government. Yet Trump is getting a $400 million Air Force One replacement from Qatar and spending up to a billion to retrofit it. And – ka-ching! – he gets to take it with him when he leaves the White House in 2029.

I could go on for a lot longer, but I want to stop and say this isn’t what America is supposed to be. We are supposed to be a nation of laws, not a nation of men. We are supposed to be the land of the free, not the land of the oppressed. We are supposed to choose those who represent us, they are not supposed to choose who their voters are. All of us are supposed to be created equal, but some of us are “more equal” than others. We have worked and paid taxes and trusted that when we retired, the resources we supported would be there to support us, instead of holding our breaths to see if those resources have been confiscated by the government.

Republicans have hit upon the answer for them: when you’re losing, change the rules. Or what they hey, just break them! Ignore the laws. Tear up the score sheet. Make the opposition look like the bad guys and accuse them of doing the very things that you are doing. And when all else fails, upset the chess board and scramble the pieces so that some of them may be lost forever, just like some of our rights.

Verna Caruso is a native of Muncy, who now resides in Williamsport. She is a former staff member at Inc. magazine and former Chair of the Lycoming County Democratic Committee.