The Election IS Rigged….

But not like Trump thinks. 

In every presidential election year, you know you’re going to hear several things:
“This is the most important election in your lifetime.”
“If you don’t vote, you’re voting for (fill in the blank.)”
“If you vote for (fill in the blank), you are voting for (fill in the blank.)
“If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain.”
“All third parties do is play spoiler.”
“I don’t understand how you can vote for a candidate that has no chance of winning!”
“I’m only voting for (fill in the blank) because we have to stop (fill in the blank.)”
“Don’t throw away your vote!”
“It’s about the Supreme Court! If (fill in the blank) is elected, it’ll be the end of America!”

These statements, while not all encompassing, reflect how Americans have bought into the whole structure of the two-party system. Media outlets for the two major parties, polling agents, debate commissions, all reinforce this idea that America can only have two legitimate choices. So what happens when we don’t have two legitimate choices offered by the two-party system? Like 2016? The same programmed responses are deployed.

The rigging of the American presidential election system has nothing to do with Election Day. There will not be widespread voter fraud, or doctoring of ballots. There will not be counters who determine the outcome. The rigging begins and ends with the American voters who continue to accept the premise that America deserves a winner-take-all system of elections that often disenfranchises significant segments of the American people through the competitive barriers erected by the systems of ballot access established by states.

The rigging is deep, thorough, and mired in perils for political interests that are not monied, lawyered, and established. Our system purposely diminishes the possibility of political competition as two large clubs have divided the country into segments of gerrymandered political districts that best fit the needs of the incumbents who seek reelection. We have ideological silos where differences are placed together in other gerrymandered districts. Yeah, it’s a rigged system.

And in 2016, new voters have come into the system to vote, rejecting the status quo and the premise of the two-party system. The response from the media is to demonize, impugn, and eviscerate the concepts of political competition. Millennials have been disparaged in all kinds of ways. Older voters accuse you of being unwise. And yet, according to the most recent polling regarding the moral character of Donald Trump, it’s the older folks (65+) who approve of Trump’s moral character the highest. The lowest group? Yep, millennials.

Older people do have more experience in life than younger people. That is true. They can help advise and navigate some of life’s perils because they have learned from experience. But in 2016, while I personally know some older Americans who are morally and ideologically wise and consistent, a large number of the elderly polled have shown themselves to be morally compromised, hypocritical of the things they preach to others, and woefully unwise. But they also have already cast aside any ideas that our system can change. They have accepted the false premise. And because they vote in greater percentages than other age groups, they have more influence on the outcomes of elections.

After the 2016 election, Americans should start unrigging the system in tangible ways so that 2020 can offer more choice, more inclusivity, and better outcomes.