We Were Awake Before Bernie Sanders Got Here

The Nevada convention was a mess. And after allegations of alleged violence from Bernie Sanders supporters, the media insisted Bernie needed to tell his followers to tone it down:

"It's not wrong for Sanders to see corruption baked into the law and the political process as it currently exists. Nor is it out of bounds for his campaign to point out the very flaws he is fighting to change. But the Campaign should remain cognizant of the fact that suggesting the entire political process is unfair is quite different from drawing policy contrasts - and more likely to have negative and destabilizing consequences for the party as a whole." -- The Atlantic

"He's suggesting that the win is being stolen by a corrupt establishment, an impression which will be validated when his phony prediction turns out not to be true. Lying like this sets you up for stuff like happened over the weekend in Nevada. As I said, it all comes from the very top." -- TPM

"Bernie Sanders himself could help clear the air by informing his supporters that while there are many things about the Democratic nomination process that ought to be changed, no one has "stolen" the nomination from him or from them. Perhaps a thousand small things gave Hillary Clinton an "unfair" advantage in this contest, but they were mostly baked into the cake, not contrived to throw cold water on the Bern." -- New York Magazine

Here's what they don't get: Bernie Sanders supporters were awake before Bernie Sanders came along.

We know it was a rigged system that allowed George Bush to gain the presidency in 2000 and 2004. We know that voting machines are easily hackable. We know that our political system runs on money, not votes. We know that Democrats and Republicans are two heads of the same snake and deliberately shut out other voices to keep themselves in power.

When we first heard Bernie Sanders speak about a rigged system, we didn't say, "Hey, this guy has a point!" We said, "Finally, a politician who aligns with my views!" If you believe the rigged system is a lie, Bernie Sanders didn't perpetuate it. We've been discontent with the political system long before he came along.

So when we learn the DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz was co-chair of Hillary's presidential campaign in 2008, when we see how she's the stacked the deck in Hillary's favor, when we hear Bernie votes have scrubbed in audits, we see that exit polls where Hillary wins states do not add up, when we we learn the official fired for the NY voter purge has Hillary campaign ties, we don't need Bernie Sanders to tell us what we already fully understand. The system is rigged.

Close your eyes to it if you want to, but we are and always have been awake. You are ones who are just now finding out about it.