At present, the situation is that Big Money has government in its pocket.

Thus, because the two poles of power, private enterprise and government, are working in tandem, everyone else suffers. Small businesses suffer because they can't compete when the big guys get unfair advantages. Small investors suffer when the laws against corporate frauds are only enforces in the most obvious and egregious cases. Wage-earners suffer because the profits from the companies are going into the pockets of those at the top instead of into pay raises for them. Students suffer because tuition rises while their means to pay it does not.

And, incidentally, the state governments are suffering because, unlike DC, they all must balance their budgets, by statute, every year. So we're seeing serious erosion of infrastructure and necessary services.

We have the power of the ballot box to work on this. I tend to agree with Art Martin at this point: vote against every incumbent, every time. Also, make sure that the legislature and the executive NEVER belong to the same party at the same time. Part of the reason we're having this allergic reaction to liberalism is that the Democrats had control of all three houses (Reps, Senate, and White) for so long. The only way to derail the gravy train is to make sure that no one is around long enough to be able to cash out that campaign contribution for his or her patron.

It's about the only power we have, and we had better use it. Once people lose confidence in the system, there will be hell to pay. I don't want to give my kids the gift of a replay of 1929. And I have this very eerie feeling...