You will only make matters worse

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I've been reading artists and poets who experiment with computers in their work, and recently that's meant John Cage. I've been opening his delightfully inventive Diary: How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse) at random lately. It's a fun book; the composition, color, and even the font of each "diary" entry are based on aleatory operations. I picked up a mint used copy at the delightful Topos books last year, but only just got around to reading it.

I opened to this page after watching the cruelty that unfolded in the White House yesterday, during which our adolescent leaders berated and bullied the leader of Ukraine , a vulnerable country under attack by a rapacious larger power. So much imperative in the belligerent demands for resources, so much obedience and deference demanded without offering so much as a word of respect in return.

          If you're poor, it's illegal. If you're
   rich, you're automatically within the law

And, later

                                 Syntax, like
 government, can only be obeyed. It is
 therefore of no use except when you
    have something particular to command
    such as: Go buy me a bunch of carrots.