Doesn't it make sense to take into account the fact that dysfunctional and incestuous relationships between the media, the government, and the military industrial complex is what defines power inside the Beltway?

Another point to remember--if the so-called "right" and so-called "left" reformers are too extreme for the Great Majority in the Center, and moderation and compromise are the most cherished values of a society, as they are now, what we get is this corruption on an unprecedented scale. Why? Because when moderation and compromise dominates political life, nothing meaningful in terms of reforms ever takes place, and the status quo dominates. When things don't change when they need to change, stagnation and rot set in.

This is I Ching 101, folks.