The perennial truth about cons is that only the greedy can be conned. Rubio isn't innocent. He put ambition above principle and above even the country he thirsts to lead. Trump merely exploited his original sin. Really, they deserve each other.
There's an alternative, which makes you immune to scams and cons:
Don't do any of that.
Principles first!
Here's why that's hard for people: Most don't have principles; they have placeholders, unthinkingly adopting the slogans and inclinations of their tribe, their class, their family, their workplace, their friends, their role models, some TV show or film. It's extraordinarily thin and propositional, and thus can be replaced by other principles with frightful ease whenever some actually deep drive (ego thirst, greed, fear, etc) supersedes, or merely when tides shift.
This explains, for instance, why conservatism meant one thing in 2015 and a nearly opposite thing in 2016 to tens of millions of people who felt solidly conservative through it all. Hypocrisy? Not really. Just empty tribalism. When a flock turns, the flock turns. They hardly notice.
Building principles deeply and carefully is like cooking deeply and carefully. Results will be meaningful, and that feedback loop solidifies the process. Haphazard cooking and thoughtful cooking are utterly different, and the cooks even more so. The latter stand for something. I haven't heard the word "substantial" used lately, and when I do, it usually refers someone with a great big house. We've lost the very concept! And insubstantial people are easily conned.
A big factor in my scam immunity is that I don't crave cheap shortcuts. Some people get emails from Nigerian princes and at least momentarily dream of $100 million windfalls. That wouldn't fulfill life fantasies for me. A bizarre fluke, nothing more. My satisfaction stems from writing something fresh and compelling, or playing or cooking something beautiful, or helping a stranger (and scramming before it turns kooky). Processing my confusion into insight. Finding a great hidden restaurant. Treasure hunting and treasure creation let me cling closely to treasure! Perhaps I'm the most deeply greedy of all, but I channel my greed differently.
And I don't stoically endure my process of seeking satisfaction—my work. As a karma yogi, I've found that the work itself is the juicy sweet spot. The crafting is infinitely more rewarding than the result. If you scheme to jump to the result—to haphazardly cook one up, or take a cheap shortcut—you're a nowhere man. Just more insubstantiality, our national curse.
"Fame is a by-product of doing something else. You don't go to a restaurant and order a meal just because you want to take a shit!" -- Banksy
If Kim Kardashian locked eyes with me in a bar and told me I seem fascinating, I'd tell her "No, I don't. I actually might be, but you have no way of knowing that. G'bye." Not just to avoid the inevitable con, but because I get no kicks from cheap shortcuts. The shortcut itself is like a scam, and I'm reality-based.
These disinclinations of mine - I don't want a hundred million dollars wired from Nigeria, and I don't want "a shot at" Kim Kardashian, and I don't want to be president, etc ad infinitum - have always made me seem like a loser. A grubby rat scurrying about, fretting over iPad charging cords, painstakingly editing each word like polishing rocks, fraughtly choosing between non-aspirational lunch places, and staying up till 4am to de-commercialize online food discussion. These are not the activities of studly, successful, admirable people. Such people make A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS. They SCREW KIM KARDASHIAN. They become PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. And so they can be led around like slaves while seemingly ambition-less rats like me are free and impervious.
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