What to do? Many of us are not going to play anymore. When we were kids, and a selfish bully tried to dictate, control and get his way only, we would say, "Try and make me..." or, "You're not the boss of me..." And at this point some would fight. Others would walk away and play somewhere else, something else, with someone else...
This is how I will play with the current slate of Republicans, and state of our dysfunctional and quarrelsome government. I turned off the "debates" after minutes asking, "Is this, are they, the best we can do?" They are not the kind of people I want to hang around and play with. And certainly not the kind I would have any regard for nor pay any attention to as a "leader."
The only way I see to "win" in the current political arena is to not play. To quit.
I hope Sanders wins. And that he then does what he says he'll do. We'll see... The system and players in it need to be shaken up, from the outside. Why would we believe that those on the inside who created the problems, those in the system, could possibly solve them?
A friend of mine in Canada sent me an email in which he said a good phrase about listening to the candidates, he gets "dizzy with spin." And they are "held back by a thousand strings of obligation."
For all those running except Sanders, and most of those already in office, It's called bribery (PAC money), conflicts of interest, self-serving, self-absorbed, lack of integrity... If I looked in a thesaurus under "politician" I would expect to find these as synonyms.
In the past, sometimes holding public office was referred to as "public service." When was the last time you heard that term? There's very little serving in politicians' actions and consciousness these days.
Obama was elected because he said many of the right things about the problems with government and politicians. And then he became one. Or was always one. Or they threatened his wife and children. Or they made him an offer that he sold out to. Or...???
I know, many will say his job was impossible because of the system. I don't agree. He could have quit out of the system. He had the ear and support of a majority of voting Americans. He could go directly to them, drawing on the people power, as did Roosevelt with his fireside chats. After all, aren't "We the people" actually the government? Does Washington no longer believe Lincoln's, "Of the people, by the people and for the people?" Once in office are they sucked into a black hole where this awareness no longer exists? And if the awareness does exist, has their integrity disappeared into the black hole?
We the people, for the most part, are frustrated and fed up with our government and politicians. As well as with the mainstream media with their 30-second buzz crammed between commercials and their lack of unbiased journalism. It and they have swung so far to extremes of self-interest that we the people are saying, "ENOUGH!" This may be, as far as I can see, something (maybe the one thing) some Democrats and Republicans agree on. But are doing nothing about. Except pontificate, moralize and argue righteously.
Many say that our vote counts. I say, "For what?" If I vote for the lesser of two evils the result is still evil.
I vote for making changes from the inside out, one at a time, outside the broken system, starting with me. I love the Chinese saying, "If each person sweeps in front of their own door, soon the entire street will be clean."
Harrumph! I quit!