Ah...well...you'd like to think that about those certain "people" you are alluding to, but it's not so, Don.

I DO believe electing Gore rather than Bush in 2000 would have made a huge positive difference, and I always have believed so.

I DO feel rather inspired by the possibility of either Obama or Edwards being elected, although I would prefer Kucinich. I am not inclined, as so many are, to demonize Hillary Clinton.

I am not nearly as "cynical" or negative or defeatist as you imagine me to be, but I will not cease pointing out endemic corruption whereve it exists in the American political system. Nor will I cease vigorously questioning the tacit assumption that seems to be common in America that a 2-party political system is any kind of "good" way (let alone the best way!) to achieve an enlightened and just society. To question these things as I do is not defeatism or cynicism...it's a wake-up call and a call for radical change.

All of society is now being dominated by the Corporatocracy....NOT just the political scene. That's something that is going to have to be seriously addressed and challenged in humanity's next great world struggle for freedom. We may find some political leaders with the guts to challenge it. I hope so.