voters somewhat controlled by the Powers That Be, working to make them think they have some control over government. R's and D's letting your down, said the spider to the fly? Come into my silken net....

Do Democrats not get this? They're so bought they can't see how to save their political lives?

We 99 Percenters are going to be treated just like Spain (Socialists start breaking down the social contract to please the banksters, and the voters are infuriated but only have the more conservative party to turn to. So they do. In Greece, the left party was forced, by being told the banksters would bury their nation, to go along with the banksters. And infuriate and depress the voters by doing so. And note what's going on in Hunjgary, which looks a little like what the rightwin governors here in the US are trying to do. Legislative coup d'etat.) or Greece. And Hungary.

Right now, there is no viable political place to go, no evidently viable political coalescence to join. Are the Greens really in a position to build their party? To ally with the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party possibly? I really don't know.

I'm not sure I see this being remedied in the near future. This democratic representative republic (of which Franklin said, yes it is a republic -- if we can keep it) just might be on its irreversible downward slide to irrelevance and general poverty.

The growing accruel of power to the executive and the legislature's agreement to expand those powers in ways clearly contradictory to the Constitution probably put us at early to mid-30's Germany, when laws were passed which were the basis for the takeover of the government, and we will become a Fascist Oligarchy/Corporatacracy/Kleptrocracy.

Now, I'm having pretty intense sciatica pain today, so perhaps my perception is clouded by that. And by lousy delivery service on my new refrigerator...so maybe I won't feel this gloomy come another day.

But I do fear for this nation and dread what will happen in the coming decades.

What I found interesting, when I did a little bit of research on this topic, is how much of a monopoly the Democratic and Republican parties have on the electoral process in this country. It is very easy for a Democratic or a Republican party candidate to get on a ballot in any state - not at all easy for other parties. It wasn't always this way. In addition to getting the money out of politics (good luck with that!!), we need a very thorough overhaul of the laws that govern the electoral process in this country. However, given that the Republicans and the Democrats control the levers of power and will not give them up voluntarily, I truly do not know what the answer is. Everything I've read about Americans Elect is "thumbs down" - their financing is suspect and their agenda is unknown. Plus, how secure is the Internet and how is an audit of the vote conducted? Lots of questions, there.