First off, let me say that I don't necessarily respect the views – as given above – of most of this thread's posters. I did enjoy guhnu, Jack the Sailor and Ron D's posts - not to mention the Catspaw's tender sentiments. No doubt I would also respect the views of Amos if I but understood them. :)

The oft-stated views of several Mudcatters promote the idea as fact that the US – and by extension most capitalistic countries – is governed by a body or bodies of wealthy and totally cynical people somewhere in the world who know what will give them more wealth, more power, more of a legacy perhaps (although I find it difficult to conceive of an anonymous legacy) and in its pursuit have learned the art of manipulation that lets them give a little here, tweak a little there, pull out a pillar over there to force the collapse of something that is past its usefulness, feed some money into another spot in order to boost its power. This, according to the implication, happens generation after generation, without fail, through old age and death of its members, through the rebellion of its youth, the body to be replenished (through what method is not clear) by new generations of new bloodless, predatory, conscienceless people. Forever and ever. Amen.

My own view is quite different. I grant that there are people and agencies and industries that profit from wars and famine and financial depressions. That is a given – when the market is depressed is an excellent time to put your own money and - dare I say it? - ideals to work. It is also a good way to get an economy moving again.

But I do not subscribe to the defeatist belief.that there is this powerful, all-seeing, totally corrupt group that cannot be defeated or even engaged by 'normal' people. I resist the notion partly because it is illogical – it smacks too much of the gods-above-us mentality– but mostly because no body or group of bodies is that smart. Collective heads may be better than one but there are few groups anywhere and at any time that hang together that cohesively for a generation, much less for hundreds of years.

My own view of the political process in the US is very much as presented by Halperin in the opening post: Everybody involved is jockeying for the best candidate they can present that they believe has the best chance of getting into governmental power. It is a messy process and unpredictable and I'm sure there is corruption involved but in my opinion there are no gods out there.