Ebbie and Ron...the problem is very similar in Canada. Almost identical, in fact. We have several parties, that's the only difference, so it doesn't seem quite as blatant and futile as in the USA, but it works the same way. The parties serve the moneyed oligarchy that funds them, owns the news media, and disseminates their election propaganda. They have to. They have no other option. So why would you think I am insulting just the USA's political $ySStem, when the problem is endemic in all large modern party systems?

The modern political party systems are largely phony, in my opinion. They're window dressing. Of course there are deeply sincere people at the local levels who belong to those various parties, and who are trying to serve the public. There are here too. I've met them. This is true everywhere. Also, many of the political candidates are deeply sincere people who wish to serve the public, but to do it they've got to play the game...

The game is bigger than them, and it ends up controlling them.

It's a pyramid system. It's controlled from the top down. How? By money. You don't get to vote for the men who control the purse strings, and they control the $ySStem. The same is true in Canada, and in the entire western world.

And outside the western world? It's that bad...or considerably worse.

So clearly we in Canada, the USA, and the UK, for example, are still relatively lucky, comparatively speaking.