I refuse to let cynicism make me bitter..

[BainsBane]

66. This post would be an example of national mythology

In my opinion. I agree the party is controlled by capital. What I disagree with on is that there is anything recent about it, that the party has "sold it's soul.". We live in a capitalist state. Its national mythology tells you the government is of the people by the people, but at no point in history has that been true. The Founding Fathers were the wealthiest men of their generation. They were landed gentry. They created a state that represented their interests and distanced government from the people. The nature of the moneyed interests have changed from landholding elites and slaveholders in the early Republic, to industrialists by the turn of the 20th century, and to global finance capital today. Yet throughout all of that the state has served the interests of capital. The party hasn't solid it's soul; it never had a soul apart from capital. Rather the fact that the floodgates have been opened on campaign finance have merely exposed, rendered more naked, the relationship between capital and government.

Righteous anger is fine. But to enact change one needs a plan. Words and desire are not enough. I personally don't see profound change as possible within the capitalist system, but we could become more like a Northern European democracy, which would seem to satisfy most around here. To do that we need, in my view, public financing of elections.