2016: The Year the Americans Found out Our Elections Are Rigged

[pantsonfire]

“Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors, and U.S. senators and congress members.” – Former President Jimmy Carter

What we are witnessing — for the first time on a large scale — is the political establishment’s true role in selecting the president of the United States. The illusion of choice has become apparent. The establishment anoints their two picks for president, and the country proceeds to argue vehemently over the two candidates they are spoon-fed. This dynamic is reminiscent of a prophetic 1998 quote from philosopher Noam Chomsky:

“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.”

http://theantimedia.org/2016-americans-realized-elections-rigged/

[highprincipleswork]

1. We gotta fight. Fight the powers that be.

In my world, that include fighting the Democratic Establishment that would choose to give away my stuff and wage endless war, if we are not careful about our choice.

[pantsonfire]

2. I'm ready, just give me a moment to prepare myself....

[highprincipleswork]

3. Is that actually you?

[pantsonfire]

4. My great great grandfather....so no its not....n/t

[Hortensis]

8. That some will will and some lose is intrinsic to elections.

We all need to be sensible about what happens and not get carried away by silliness.

There has been a great deal of dirtiness to our elections for as long as we've been holding them. People in various parts of the nation are even proud of the corruption they are part of. No, it's not okay, and yes we really, really, really need to fix this.

But nothing's especiallynew this election just because Bernie Sanders is losing. He is losing because the tidal wave of support he needed to generate wasn't big enough. The larger share of the delegates are going, as they should, proportionally to the candidate who has the larger share of the popular vote.

[CorporatistNation]

10. TOTAL UNADULTERATED BS! I AS A Candidate For U.S. House Have Been Witness To Election Shenanigans

Err FRAUD... The OP has got this TOTALLY CORRECT. I will publish later evidence of corruption in a race that I ran in. Just as THEY are working tooth and nail to stop Bernie... The same sh** was done to stop me in my race... Twice Democratic Nominee and also ran NPA once. It IS FIXED and Noam Chomsky is... ALLLLL OVER IT!

[Hortensis]

13. Take a deep breath? I'm not your enemy.

[COLGATE4]

33. Just remember to send your publication to WND.

They'll love it.

[MineralMan]

34. Cool. I look forward to hearing about your story.

When will we see it? I hope you provide full details, so we can go and look up more about your race and loss.

It's not often we hear from people who have run for Congress on DU. So, let's hear about what you discovered soon!

[Autumn]

12. Yes there has been a great deal of dirtiness to our elections since we have been having them.

The rug has been lifted and we see the dirt swept under it. Time to clean it up, we don't need to continue to wallow in filth.

[Recursion]

5. Err.... the candidate with the greater support among Democrats seems closer to being nominated

than the candidate with less support among Democrats.

Now, if Sanders does manage to persuade the super delegates to vote for him as the more electable candidate, then, yeah, some Clinton supporters would probably make an argument that the primary was "rigged" (I'd disagree; Sanders' lobbying the supers is perfectly allowed by the rules).

But what we're seeing at least on the D side is that the candidate who can get the most votes in the primaries seems set to win the nomination. That's the opposite of being rigged.

[pantsonfire]

16. You seem to simplifying a very complex issue....n/t

[blm]

31. Most people don't pay attention and still don't know that national parties are PRIVATE organizations

and each state forms their own rules for the election process in that state.

Rules aren't changed on the fly - they are voted on in the years prior to the presidential election at individual state conventions.

IMO, only people new to the process would make frivolous charges of rigging in the primaries. Most state primary elections are run by some staff and dozens of volunteers for the party and human error is the most likely culprit when mistakes are made. These mistakes can be rectified when discovered, as we are seeing in Colorado.

[RiverLover]

6. Its all rigged. 2016 has been a MAJOR wake up call.

Thanks for posting, great article!

[restorefreedom]

7. finally the truth comes out for all to see. nt

[DanTex]

9. Actually, it's simply the year Americans decided not to elect Bernie.

[pantsonfire]

14. You are so prophetic, is that your second job? n/t

[Fumesucker]

11. Nah, that was 2000

2016 was just the icing on the cake.

[haikugal]

29. So true..

[CentralCoaster]

15. Aaaaaand Kick! (nt)

[brooklynite]

17. Other than blan platitudes,where has Bernie Sanders challenged the outcome of a race?

[pantsonfire]

25. here...

[brooklynite]

30. Honestly, if Sanders folks spent less time creating cutesy GIFs and more doing hard campainging...

...the results might be different.

[pantsonfire]

38. Kurtly....

"I'm screamingly funny, you know, I really am in the books. And that helps because I'm funnier than a lot of people, I think, and that's appreciated by young people."
- Kurt Vonnegut

[NurseJackie]

18. Oh my goodness!

[pantsonfire]

19. ....

[NurseJackie]

20. "Oligarchs! Banksters! Corporatist!!" (HA!)

It's not working. You guys will have to do better than that. Time's running out for Bernie ... tick-tock!

[pantsonfire]

21. Do you have the whole cast of Golden Girls? haha

What was that thing she called the Gold Standard....the TPP, then all of a sudden she changed her mind to appease progressives. She's not doing anything to stop it, not saying one word.
On another issue:

[NurseJackie]

22. It's not working. Time's running out. Tick-tock!

[pantsonfire]

23. I've almost collected 'em all! No Betty?

[pantsonfire]

24. "This is true"

[apcalc]

28. I would say

The Democratic voters thus far have shown their preference .

[no_hypocrisy]

26. If Trump were winning (or stealing) delegates,

he'd be defending the RNC's system for the nomination.

[apcalc]

27. Mostly by Republicans these days

We witnessed a rigged election when Geore W Bush stole the presidency. And they have been trying to steal votes ever since...

[Punkingal]

32. And they succeeded in Ohio in 2004.

[HughLefty1]

37. They got away with it...

Now both parties know they can do anything and get away with it.

Our votes don't matter, we know our votes don't matter, they know we know our votes don't matter. They don't care.

[CalvinballPro]

35. Did you also discover sex and rock-and-roll this year?? nt

[HughLefty1]

36. I've known about the voter machines for years..

but the amount of voter suppression is off the charts...

It's so undemocratic.

[pantsonfire]

39. Kurt Vonnegut.....

"This country is being managed to death, being public related to death."

"I think big business is a terrible thing for the spirit of the country, as our spirit is the best thing about us."

"I'm screamingly funny, you know, I really am in the books. And that helps because I'm funnier than a lot of people, I think, and that's appreciated by young people."

"Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter could be said to remedy anything."

Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/k/kurt_vonnegut_2.html

[MadBadger]

40. At least in regards to the Democrats, how is 2016 any different than 2008?

[pantsonfire]

41. Obama and Hillary are not democratic socialists...

They are both left-centrists, Obama was never the progressive he made out to be.

[MadBadger]

42. This is a process question. Why is 2016 rigged but 2008 isnt?