by Bruno Somerset

Created on: May 31, 2009   Last Updated: August 09, 2009

Listening to the rhetoric spewed back and forth between the Democrats and the Republicans today, there is only one logical conclusion: we are idiots for electing any of them. The two dominant political parties, with the help of the media, have sold the American people on the lie that we all see everything in black and white, that we are all either liberal or conservative, with no middle ground possible on any issue.

From the conservative Republican viewpoint, they are the true defenders of God, country and the American way of life, while the Democrats are godless, America-hating communists who would happily hand us over to any number of our enemies. If you disagree with the Republicans, in their eyes you are obviously unpatriotic.

From the liberal Democrats' point of view, they are the true defenders of civil liberties, the freedom to believe there is no God, and the American way of life, while the Republicans are war-mongering robber barons who want to set up a theocracy and destroy everyone who thinks for themselves. If you disagree with the Democrats, in their eyes you are a closed-minded bigot.

In most situations like this, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But neither party, both of which are elitist, self-serving, and holding on to power at whatever the cost. While abuses of power have always existed, the two parties have managed to hold on to their ability to abuse power the old fashioned way: by pitting us against each other. Leaving out for a moment the ever-present issue of Iraq, a foreign visitor observing our political process would think that all people in America care about is abortion and gay marriage. Ironically, these are the two issues least likely to ever personally affect the majority of us.

Yet the two parties trot these issues out every chance they get, and for good reason. In each camp there is a hard-core group that will take sides while the majority of us become so frustrated with the lack of attention to issued that really matter to us that we drop out of the political process entirely. Fewer voters means the Republicans and the Democrats can focus their attention and money on a smaller pool, thus the notion that "whoever turns out their base wins."

What neither party wants us to realize is that while they rattle their political sabers over moral issues and race and sexual orientation, the real issue is the same as it has always been: money. They are afraid that if we take our eyes off the diversion that race and religion

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