MintPress News Desk at theantimedia.org
“More people are discovering that the system is all rigged and voting is just pacification,” three-time presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul said about U.S. elections in an interview with RT America.
Clute, TX — Dr. Ron Paul says the American electoral system is rigged to keep “independent thinkers” from succeeding.
“I see elections as so much of a charade,” the former Texas congressman said during an April 11 appearance on RT America’s “The Fishtank.” “So much deceit goes on.”
Paul is no stranger to the twisted rules of the American presidential horse race. He ran for the highest office as a Libertarian in 1988, and in 2008 and 2012 as a Republican.
He arguably came closest to the nomination in 2012, when the GOP amended its party regulations to prevent the former Texas representative from stealing Mitt Romney’s thunder.
Rule 40(b) of “The Rules of the Republican Party” was changed so the Republican National Committee could “limit the visibility and power of libertarian-minded Texas Rep. Ron Paul at the convention and thus present a unified front behind Mitt Romney, the presumptive nominee,” according to David Byler, an elections analyst at RealClearPolitics. The rule requires that, in order to win the nomination, a candidate must have the support of a majority of delegates from eight states.
Although recent wins have tipped Sen. Ted Cruz past the cut off, the rule as written came close to helping Trump take the nomination. Paul warned that the GOP’s machinations to block Donald Trump are a sign of a corrupt, undemocratic system.
“I’ve worked on the assumption … for many, many decades, that whether there’s a Republican or a Democrat president, the people who want to keep the status quo seems to have their finger in the pot and can control things,” he said in the interview.
“They just get so nervous, though, if they have an independent thinker out there — whether it’s Sanders, or Trump or Ron Paul, they’re going to be very desperate to try to change things.”
Paul had nothing but scorn for Trump’s policies: “He’s offering us nothing new, and he’s going backward in many ways.”
He suggested that the 2016 election is “a lot more entertainment than anything else” because none of the candidates “have answers” to modern political problems.
Even so, Paul interprets the success of these outsider candidates as a sign that “more people are discovering that the system is all rigged and voting is just pacification for the voters and it really doesn’t count.”
“I don’t think there’s an easy way out for the establishment or the parties,” he noted, explaining that Democrats and Republicans would both rather risk “further alienation of the people” than allow a candidate to succeed who could shake up the system.
Paul recalled his own 2012 encounter with Rule 40(b) as an important political lesson for both himself and the American people.
“I was upset about it but didn’t want to waste too much energy being angry because this is the way the system works,”he said. “It’s a rotten system.”
Watch the entire interview below:
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This article (Ron Paul: US Elections Are Rigged, Voting Simply Used to Pacify the Public) originally appeared on MintPressNews.com and was used with permission. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: Gage Skidmore. If you spot a typo, email [email protected].
“Delegates” are actually ILLEGAL!!!
http://www.thesleuthjournal.com/political-parties-are-un-constitutional/
Who cares what the establishment wants anymore? We know that the system only works because people go along with it. People see just how small the establishment actually is when the masses need change and it never happens. We have learned every trick and now demand an end to it. This is a revolution. That means changing how we allow ourselves to be governed. We don’t care about a bunch of silly rules that only serve one purpose; keeping the oligarchy in power. Bernie Sanders’ platform actually includes what many different groups have been fighting for. Economic justice, with The 99%. Racial justice, immigration reform, voters rights and election reform, women’s rights and abortion and many other issues unite us rather than divide us into little warring camps.
After the Revolutionary War of 1776, Philadelphia and the Liberty Bell became the symbols of freedom and the promise of liberty and justice for all. So now in 240 years later we’re right back where we started. We again have taxation without representation. But we don’t need a tea party this time. All we need is 10 million people descending on the cradle of liberty to make democrats realize that none of their actions are just or democratic. The entire government and status quo be warned. When the government is this bad it is our right, our duty to alter or abolish it.
Wow you are right it’s so sad what we Americans have to go thru some people don’t realize what tf is going I don’t care cause this carp is rig they all lie and that’s including puppet Obama. .it should be for the people by people but it’s not
While I find much agreement with many liberal issues, e.g. discrimination, et.al., the solutions to the problems we face all call for more government intrusion to “fix” the problem. The government IS the problem. More of it IS the problem. On this July 4th, we need to understand that originalist constitutional thought IS the solution. Government is created to bring to justice those who harm a person’s life, liberty or property. Government is meant to defend life, liberty and property against any attack, even from government itself. If this were understood, then almost all modern law would be rightly seen as unconstitutional. The “fix” is to bring to justice those who harm US. Imagine if the corporate bankers who decimated the economy were to now be sitting in jail? Or, if those who polluted water systems, harming people, were now sitting in jail? Do harm, go to jail. That will stop most harm. That is the role of government – nothing else.