As you say, Donuel, it is a SHAM DEMOCRACY. It's a bit like the Land of Oz, supposedly ruled over by the all-wise wizard (the Constitutional traditions and the elected presidents), but when you look past the booming voice of media propaganda and look behind the curtain, all you find is a bunch of greedy little men in business suits.

MtheGM - I don't recall the exact phrasing of what Churchill said...but what I am ojbecting to in it is not really what he said or meant at the time, but rather how his words are so often used by people NOW to make excuses for defending a corrupt status quo and pooh-poohing suggestions about changing it. They imply that what we have now is already better than all the other possible governmental alternatives. I don't think they're right about that, because they haven't even begun to seriously consider a number of possible alternatives....alternatives that would not abolish every feature of our established form of "democracy", but that would make many reforms which would considerably improve upon it. In other words...don't destroy the good democratic traditions we've got! Live up to them and renew them in a stronger and more effective fashion. Start living by the original spirit of those traditions and instead of seeking more money for an elite few, seek more freedom, equal opportunity, and genuine representation for the many. Seek to provide new jobs and education wherever they are needed. Reform campaign financing so that the wealthiest interests cannot co-opt the political process. Provide universal and completely affordable health care to all citizens. Stop fighing these so-called pre-emptive wars (wars of aggression) on other people's land. Let 3rd World countries directly own, manage, and profit from their own resources, rather than giving control of them to western corporations like BP, Exxon, and Haliburton. Disband the present corrupt political parties altogether (in my opinion), all of them, because they are incapable of reforming themselves...and replace them with a no-party system of candidates who are ALL running as independents without any party affiliation or any party purse to fund them. Private a modest amount of public funding equally to ALL those candidates and give them all equal media coverage to present their ideas to the public. Limit the length of an electoral campaign to 6 weeks. Stop printing unbelievable amounts of fiat (worthless) money, and replace it with a currency that is fully redeemable in a permanently set amount of something real, such as gold and silver. If that alone is done, then the paper money will retain its real value into the forseeable future. Stop allowing banks to do "fractional reserve" lending....meaning they can lend out (officially) 10 times what they have in real deposits. (unofficially, they lend out a LOT more than that) That's insane. It enriches the banks, but it destroys the value of paper currency by creating unpayable levels of debt and it takes us through repeated "boom and bust" scenarios that again enrich the biggest banks and impoverish most of the public. Make it completely illegal for privately owned businesses to lobby politicians, thereby unduly influencing the legislative process.

The above are among many, many possible thngs that could be done to modify and reform our present democratic system. And there are many other things that could be done beyond that. I'm not suggesting burning the house down. I'm suggesting patching the roof, fixing the windows, painting the walls, repairing the driveway, etc....

That house I'm referring to has been very badly neglected in the past few decades, and we see the damage all around us. We are being run by a giant Tammany Hall, for heaven's sake, and we have to recognize that and then do something about it.

I know one thing. Either this badly damaged house of ours gets repaired and renovated...or someone WILL eventually burn it down (it will end in war and/or bloody revolution, just like has been happening lately in the Middle East). And I don't want to see that happen.