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In a democracy, the idea is for everyone to have a voice. The political process is not intended to be a shouting match between two small (relative to the population) groups of people arguing over which sales associate will display the same bolt of cloth to the people standing out on the sidewalk.
Over the years, both Democratic and Republican parties have done some shifting around, some binging and purging, but they have consistently agreed on a handful of things, the most significant as far as politics is concerned being that there shall be no other parties.
At the same time, like the two leetest sororities on a small Alabama campus, they have moved closer together ideologically. The Deltas toes are painted the same pink as the Rhos, the Rhos are now serving the same little sandwiches at their teas that the Deltas do, and while the Chapter presidents of each may extoll, with wide-eyed charm, that oh, no, they are soooooo totally different, and while they may be sincere, one is still surrounded by the toes, and munching on the sandwiches, while nodding politely at one's enchanting hostess as she gushes an instant replay of what the other Chapter President just said about HER sorority.
It does not matter whether this inexorable fusion into one big Delta Rho is intentional, or if so by whose intention.
The effect is the same: both parties have become stagnant pools with few fish.
Most people in the US do not vote. About 25% do, and that is generally the top 25% income tier, although as the gap between rich and poor widens, and the middle class is phased out, it may be down to the top 20% already.
While the system is designed to prevent the poor from voting in large numbers, it is not true that all non-voters are poor. One thing they share with the poor is the knowledge that whether they vote, and if so, for whom, does not make a hell of a lot of difference.
And if truth be told, most voters know it too. They just like the process, the excitement of campaigns, they fall in love with this candidate or that, they cry when he "loses," and exult when he "wins," they send him money, they wear Tshirts with his face, they hand out buttons.
Anyone who does not like the Delta is by definition an evil Rho, and vice versa.
Issues, policies are secondary. It is understood that there will be no substantive change in policies. People who call for that are anti-social and dangerous elements who have no business in the political process at all and thank God there aren't many of them.
The result is an ostensibly democratic nation that is anything but, a government of a very small segment of the people, whose valuable time is consumed with coming up with new ways to prevent the remaining majority of the people from taking too seriously the fact that in the United States, the people have the power to change their government, or at least understanding that it does not apply to THEM.
Within the parties themselves, there is strife. Every time the gap between the two closes, a few more are purged out, and some resist. There is talk of bases and dialogue and bringing issues to the platform, all every bit as meaningful to the average disenfranchised American as the heirloom dishes used by both Rhos and Deltas at the Initiation Supper.
It is often noted, that of "western Democracies," the US tends to lag behind somewhat in areas of social progress, despite being the wealthiest country on earth. This would not be possible without the concerted effort to minimize the number of people who participate in the political process, the "duopoly" as it has been called recently, although a more accurate term would be a semi-bifurcated monopoly.
Thus the Democrats (and the Republicans) are in a constant state of turmoil and agiation over their bases and their hearts and their spades and acids and diamonds and tents and identities.
And the people are left without a choice, or a voice, and how many among them want a Theocracy, or want a Socialist Democracy, or want Adam Smith's capitalism or classic medieval feudalism or federalism or multi-ism lo-carb snack bar is not known.
Nor is it known when, at what "tipping point" they will decide to overrun both Delta and Rho houses armed with nail polish remover and anti-tea sandwich spray.
A multi-party system, a Sorority Row, just like on the big campuses, would benefit both Deltas and Rhos and all the voiceless people for whom both claim to speak.
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