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The "Two Party System" has inevitably evolved into what is in effect a "One Party System." The "Republican" and "Democrat" officeholders have reached agreement on the division of booty, with the Democrats firmly at the head of the Governmental Table. This unspoken arrangement is so lucrative, that those who benefit from it will spend billions to keep it ...OUR billions.

Does no one ever wonder how a freshman congressman arrives penniless in DC, to leave 6 years later a multi-millionaire or better? (3 terms apparently being the magic swag number and the minimum for the outrageous Congressional Pension scheme...Boehner, Bob Dole, Orrin Hatch, Lugar etc on the Republican side, Pelosi, Boxer, Feinstein, Reid, Clinton, and about 5000 other Democrats on the other.)
Congress has become a huge insider trading operation, with the members uniquely poised to make enormous sums from every piece of legislation, no matter how insignificant it may appear to us rubes out here in voter-land. Talking just the House here. The Senate spoils are exponentially greater! On the state level, nest-feathering can be even more crude and blatant. Howie Carr's columns ring true in every state. Democracy inevitably becomes Kleptocracy as officeholders use their ability to reward their friends and to stay in perpetual power.

This is not, in case you haven't noticed (which I doubt)... an ideologically driven country. Except for the Far Left Marxists, who are driven by nothing else, Americans are by and large, pragmatists. They are struggling with a basic question:

"Is the government's role to help people ... or is it to efficiently and economically run the country so most people can take care of themselves without help from the government?
While we struggle with that basic question, our pragmatic representatives are not really worried about what answer we come up with. They are taking very good care of themselves, rewarding their supporters, and securing the future of their families by passing on their money ... AND their power.

Your suggestions are very good ones and may become possible through Social Media ... right now, the way people have their thinking done for them is through the MSM and hideously expensive advertising.

The latest primary season is a hopeful example of your direction, though ... the "conservatives" at the very least got on the radar. Next mid-term could be the charm.

However, not one "conservative" from Newt, to Rick, Perry, to Paul ... bothered to come up with a a PROGRAM, A PLAN to implement it, or enough LEADERSHIP to get it sold.

As far as the electorate goes, use the "Reader's Digest" paradigm. It was originally written at the 8th Grade reading level. Pick up an old issue from the 1950's and compare it to the last edition. In 1950's terms, that new edition is nearer the 3rd Grade Reading Level. I have no doubt that we still have our Native Intelligence, but us natives are dumber than ever. Conservatives might want to figure out how to somehow awaken that Native Intelligence and use it to even ....gasp ... win an election.