What's so terrible about saying "the system is rigged"?

[Docreed2003]

3. This is how I see it...

At the outset, let me say: Prepare for the flame war because it's coming. That being said, I agree with your post in many ways. Trump never once uttered the "rigged" phrase until Bernie did. Your points highlight what I think Bernie's positions were in that the current economic construct in this country is weighed towards the haves and against the vast majority who are struggling for a better life than their parents had. Trump only jumped on this message, although it was a perverted version of it, when he saw how successful Bernie was with connecting to people on this issue.

Trump was effective because he played up the economic divide and portrayed himself as an "outsider". Some folks latched into that message because they are in areas hardest hit by the current economic frustrations of the country and others did so because they felt that his message was similar to what Bernie was proposing and fighting against. Make no mistake, though some here seem hard pressed to admit this fact, there are a huge amount of people in this country who have been left out of the economic recovery since '08, and I'm not referring to the bogus NYT whites vs POC piece that has been commented on here many times recently. What I mean is that there are people of all backgrounds who have continued to struggle in this current economic climate, while the overlords of business continue to make profits. If you are able to step back and realize that most people in this country aren't as politically in tuned as we are here, it's easy to understand how the casual nightly news watcher could get caught up in Trumps rhetoric and not even know, or in some cases ignore, how racist/sexist/bigoted he truly is.

While it is certainly truth that Comey and the FBI and Russian interference played a huge role in this election, and I believe that it played enough of a roll to tip the balance to Trump. That doesn't mean that there aren't a huge percentage of voters across the country who feel that they are no longer best represented by the DNC...that's due to bigotry and hatred, yes, on a very large minority though. I think the bigger issue is the DNC has lost workers and unions because they no longer fight for their concerns. In recent decades, the DNC has been content to cull votes from unions, while taking donations from groups that would happily kill organized labor in this country.

The people in this country, and I mean the non-1% millionaire/billionaire class, are at a breaking point. They are looking for anyone to represent them against the economic powers that be. While Clinton had a strong economic platform, there was no attempt by the Clinton campaign or the DNC at large to express and make that platform digestible for the masses. Saying, "Check out my website for details"...just isn't good enough.


So, Trump won. He won by FBI interference, Russian espionage, and blatantly ripping off Clinton's most successful opponent of the primary and bastardizing his message. What are we going to do about it? I think it starts locally. We must make every attempt to connect with voters, even if we know they will never vote for us, because we must have our message and plan expressed to people in a real way. While we absolutely must fight and investigate the severity of foreign interference in this election, at the same time we have to understand why it could happen in the first place. Racism and bigotry played a huge part, for a very limited yet vicious part of the Trump base, but that's only a part. I think the DNC must hone its economic message, even if it means spurning Wall St donors, and present a message face to face to our constituents that says, "I know you're hurting...I know your jobs may never come back. I understand that the moneyed interests in this country are against you, but here's what we're going to do to fight for you and try to ease your pain."