[DanInTokyo]

This is why I'm done with the two-party system. Both parties are the same; the only difference is where they stand on (largely) irrelevant hot-button issues.

Obama bothers me most of all because Candidate Obama was exactly what I wanted. Transparent. Forward-thinking. Respectful of individual rights. Willing to dismantle systems that denied rights to perceived enemies, both foreign and domestic.

And then this fellow who looked and sounded like Candidate Obama started in as President of the United States, and we found exactly where the buck stops - not with the supposed head of the free world, but with the practically invisible collection of people and corporations that work behind the scenes to operate the puppets we vote for.

It's sad. It's also not new. What is new, however, is our ability to communicate via non-centralized channels. It allows us to know that the wool is being pulled over our eyes and, with any luck, start more and more to pull it away.

[deveac]

>we found exactly where the buck stops - not with the supposed head of the free world, but with the practically invisible collection of people and corporations that work behind the scenes to operate the puppets we vote for.

This is an absolutely crushing truth that often makes it difficult to not just disengage completely. This frightens me because a disengaged populace is precisely what allows this type of behavior to flourish and expand.

As I get older, I find I have to increasingly give myself silent pep talks to "stay in the game."