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.
The fact is, nearly everyone here on FReep has groused over the past 30 years, “How can it be that the lamestream lefties, and the RNC elites, have managed to hand us presidential candidates so bland and devoid of ideological vigor?”
Some of the methods are being exposed this year, and the voteless primaries, etc, are on display for all to see.
The writer has bunched-up panties, calling “whiner!” while whining away at windmills of his mind.
The whole purpose of having a system is to rig it.
Wealth controls power and always will
The Economist recently did a story on the way in which large firms in collusion with politicians has destroyed competition in this country. That there was: too much regulation; a need for patent reform; and that Obamacare as it stands is substantially harming the economy. Which would argue that indeed, the economy is rigged.
We need to restore competition.
See a pattern here?
Bribes and promises to cronies, who needs voters.
I remember when Oklahoma was a dry state and the local sheriffs made a good living shaking down illegal bars. I also remember when every single County Commissioner in the state was indicted and convicted or pled out to corruption charges save one.(Henry Campbell)
I know that people were smart enough to figure out a Commissioner whose salary was $400.00 a month really could not afford to buy a big farm and fill it with cattle, yet they stayed in office. Maybe they stayed in office because their powerful friends got their roads paved or a bridge built after the election.
The smart ones always kept their bar open and their road maintained. Is that the kind of smart you are so proud of.
Yeah I would say it is rigged.
I can't get over how people are focused on the right to vote and forget the privilege and responsibility pieces. They want voting to be easy, convenient. No registration, no ID, no waiting in line. No thinking.
Our founding fathers had a real fear of mob rule. When a population is under stress, that population often makes seriously damaging decisions. Think Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood and Germany with Hitler. Our founding
Father's searched earnestly for a system that would respect the will of the people and still guard against the dangers of the mob. They worked for a balance that would protect the small states interests as well as those of the larger states.
Before we go throwing a system away, we should spend at least as much thought on those same issues. Read “The Miracle at Philadelphia” to gain an understanding of what went on during the Constitutional Convention. Link to free PDF: http://www.steporebook.com/book/miracle-at-philadelphia-the-story-of-the-constitutional-convention-may-september-1787-24226-pdf.html. Study guides also available online.
lol...great post.
Not only rigged, but we see the GOPe folks trying to fine tune the rigging to ensure the will of the people is smashed....
The underlying problem is, of course, that it's not "rigged" in his favor.
Things haven't changed since then.
“…..The only thing more dangerous than facing a corrupt political system with unlimited resources; is the corrupt political system facing an awakened electorate who realize they have nothing to lose….”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/
Did you support Obama? I think I heard 67% of people opposed Obamacare in 2012 but he still got re- elected. Would you call that rigged?
Whether you support Cruz or not and whether you think Trump does not know what he is doing...the system is rigged.
Why hasnt this scenario played out in other years where the guy winning loses delegates that he deserves ? Its corruption, being pushed by the Gop from on high. They are trying to thwart the will ofthe people. They ve always done that, but this time they know that Trump and his supporters will not play ball. So they must not let him in office. We need a 3rd party that will usher in the minimizing of the Gop. The new party must never let the establishment types in. They must work toward a new role for the media, indeed more controled. Among other things.
Ah, the good ol' days. Paid my first two years at Okie State by bootlegging.
Then, they voted the state wet. So, I paid for the last two years by running a poker game.
Seems to me that a state party should be free to run their business as they wish. And rom the testimony of all the participants in the Colorado convention system, it sounds like amateurs were frequently elected as delegates and treated fairly.
Indeed, the party regulars were so "in control" that they couldn't get their own nominee for U.S. Senate elected. The insurgent nominee -- Darryl Glenn -- won with 70% of the vote.
Forgive me, but I don't see a problem with the system.
We need to use the momentum, that is against the establishment, if Trump loses, to start a new party. Trump can lead it and we can disrupt the system for a long time. With this election the US system has been changed forever. The Jeannie cannot be put back into the bottle. Who is the next Trump ? Who will be , more radical ? Because the people will be with that person.
They're not very good at it, though. Note that the GOPe choice for U.S. Senate in Colorado got waxed by the insurgent candidate -- Darryl Glenn -- by a 70/30 count.
The real problem the Trump campaign has with caucus and convention states is that either they a.) don't know how to compete or b.) choose not to compete and, in any case, c.) prefer to whine about it.
In years past, many have tried, via 3rd party....only to have their efforts smeared and obliterated by another “arm of the octopus”, the Elite’s Media. 3rd party hasn’t worked.
Now, when they come after DJT, they are totally frustrated because their here-to-fore successful “destroy” methods are facing real opposition. Will the enact their final solution if all else fails, and JFK him? We pray NOT! but one thing is for certain. They will not willingly give up their power.
For years, voting has been an absolutely futile process for a libertarian/conservative like me to feel I have a voice. But 2016 is the year I finally understand why. And this may be the first election in my adult life that I simply turn my back on the whole process. The system is rigged to work for those who work for the system, plain and simple. A self-employed, hard-working American believer has absolutely no say at any stage. That’s how the riggers want it.
yes
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