Posted on 04/17/2016 4:34:27 AM PDT by Kaslin
You hear it all the time: “The system is rigged.” On so many issues, people wrap themselves in this abdication of individual responsibility to insulate themselves from the negative consequences of their decisions and actions. Still others use it to empower themselves, acting as political Pope and absolving others of their mistakes.
Context matters. In some cases, the system is rigged. In others, the system itself is doing the rigging.
Nowhere has the “the system is rigged” theme been more commonly used than in the political world.
Donald Trump cries it every time he loses, every time he realizes he’s been outsmarted, every time it’s clear he’s in over his head and didn’t hire competent people who understand, or even read, clearly stated rules. But his refrain is hollow and damaging only to those to whom he’s lying.
The more nefarious usage of the phrase comes from the recipient of Trump’s political donations – Hillary Clinton.
When a politician, particularly the standard bearer of a major political party, complains “the system is rigged” against people getting ahead, it’s the same as telling them they should quit. It saps those susceptible to such things of their ambition, their drive.
When you say this to people who, because of skin color, sexuality, economic status or whatever, already may be receptive to the idea, it resonates – maybe not that day, but someday. When something doesn’t go their way, the way something doesn’t go people’s way all the time, they now have an excuse.
The next time they fail to get a job or lose one, regardless of the circumstances, they can come more quickly to the “realization” the system is rigged against them and they can’t succeed no matter what.
Some people will quit, wait for some politician to “unrig” the system and become and remain loyal to that person and party who vows to “protect” them. It’s worked out swimmingly for the black community, hasn’t it? Now Democrats want to work their same magic to “help” Hispanics.
The vote is more important than lives to progressives. It’s power über alles.
Hillary claims the system is rigged? She rose from a middle-class family to marry a man from a poor family and then become one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in the world. Her story, like that of President Obama and so many other progressives, embodies the American Dream.
Why not just rely on that story, which would do a lot of good? Because it doesn’t give enough credit to government for her success.
“The system is rigged” absolves everyone of the responsibility of their mistakes. You went to prison not because you were doing something illegal, but because the system was rigged. You can’t afford rent not because you wasted your money on other things, but because the system is rigged. You have a crummy job not because you smoked a lot of weed in high school rather than studying, but because the system is rigged. The possibilities are endless, the blame – and the results – are the same.
If Hillary wants to talk about rigged systems, she knows all about one that truly is rigged – the Democratic Party’s nominating system.
She can’t win her party’s nomination without unelected party elites pushing her over the top, which her campaign acknowledged this week. Further, Tuesday’s primary in New York already is a victory for her before the first vote is counted. Unless Bernie Sanders, a fellow traveller in the “the system is rigged” brigade, beats her in a landslide, she will leave the state with significantly more delegates.
Yes, some systems are rigged. But not the ones most progressives would have you believe. The economy is not rigged. How delegates are won or lost may be, but everyone knows the rules.
No, the real rigging in most people’s lives is the lie that someone other than the individual is responsible for the state of our lives.
Looking externally for redemption, fulfillment, or making anything great again is the individual rigging the system against themselves. So maybe all the systems are rigged after all.
How does (or did) the press manage to keep control over the message? By controlling who was allowed to be the messenger. Anybody can apply for the job.
I just see delegates being awarded to the people who lose elections. Or elections being bypassed in favor of handing delegates to “the good guys”.
I think it’s definitely rigged.
Yes, the system is rigged.
Not against Trump, specifically. But the system is rigged. The only people who don’t (or pretend to not) recognise it are the hacks who benefit from it.
Definitely rigged -- in the sense that the Trump campaign doesn't seem to have the foggiest idea how to compete.
Absolutely.
Some state parties have completely corrupted the vote.
.0114 - 4% vote participation from caucus states that are tightly controlled.
.0000001 of the population are contributed millions to buy an election.
Wealthy foreigners and global financiers are supporting our candidates.
The press over reports, under reports and redefines the message every day.
There is a certain amount of irony when it comes to a casino owner running around saying the system is rigged.
There is a certain amount of irony when it comes to a casino owner running around saying the system is rigged.
The whole system is a relic - and one which is only held onto because it benefits the political hacks in power in both parties.
Caucuses exist specifically so that gatherings of political hacks and hangers-on can circumvent the people and choose delegates and candidates instead. The whole reason we even have this "party convention meets to elect the delegates," instead of the candidates selecting the delegates they won themselves, is so the party elite can still control the process, rendering the results of primary elections essentially moot.
In an election year where the theme is “replace the status quo” and total disgust with our system it is beyond me how states can either disregard the votes of the people and pledge delagates to another candidate or not even have a primary vote! Not only does it give the appearance of impropriety, its a big F... Y.. to their constituents and rejects the mood of the country’s body politic. I was a Cruz supporter until he embraced the GOPe and adopted a win at all costs attitude. Reminds me of Pete Townsend’s lyric...Meet the new Boss, same as the old Boss.
Any time that the popular vote in any entity is negated and overridden by special rules the system is RIGGED. No exception.
Today’s politics is clear example of what the voters want verses what they will get. Rigged elections have ensured total corruption within all levels of government.
The system is not what it should be, but that is a problem that republicans should demand the state parties fix after November. In fact, Trump can make that demand and apply a huge amount of pressure if he wins in November.
However, it’s how candidates play the system that decides elections. If Trump had set a rather mild goal of 1,000 supporters spread over the Wyoming Caucuses, he could have swept the state. I don’t mind a lot that Cruz did it with the 644 supporters who showed up, since that limited Kasich to one delegate, but I would have preferred to see Trump make the effort to beat both rivals at that game.
I blame Trump for not playing the game under the rules he knows and for not doing his very best. Or does anyone believe Trump really could not have gathered more than 70 total supporters in that state?
It's a distraction away from the fact that the system is endemically rigged to transfer authority away from the voters themselves and to a small group of party leaders and their hacks. It's essentially a state party version of what liberals have been doing vis-a-vis the states vs. the FedGov for a century.
trump win the state, but his delegates goes to cruz. Yes its rigged
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
A better question might be, “Are there rents today?”
I think the answer is yes. Influence is rented... at 200K to 500K per hour (average length of a speech).
So many wrong linkages, wrong conclusions.
When the Elites, via many avenues, hold the electorate hostage to their desired outcome, of course the system is rigged, to their benefit.
One avenue of control is disenfranchisement. How is it that two privately owned organizations, the Democrat and Republican parties, hold control over who gets selected and elected for We the People’s public gov’t leadership positions?
That they all train their venom against the one man who has the financial ability to circumvent their choke hold, and expose them for who they are, tells the electorate just who is the only candidate that stands a chance to bust up their “system”.
“so that they can just guffaw and snicker and chalk it up to Trump “not having a ground game” “
And that ground game is almost useless in the general election where voters can vote for either party. In the general election I’d think that Trump has an advantage in that he can motivate lots of voters.
There are no parliamentary maneuvers in the general other than outright voter fraud and endless recounts like Ted Gore tried in the 2000 election
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