Pismo Beach mayor race separated by one vote

You are right about some but many others have given up on a process in which there are rarely options that are both good and viable. The “bigger” the office the more difficult it is to be elected without being a representative of a major party.

The major parties both are dominated by moneyed interests and those interests attach strings to their contributions. If an elected politician doesn’t then represent those interests after a successful candidacy, they won’t get enough money in the future to stay in power. (Propaganda works well in our society and it costs money.) Few candidates have the character to resist that pressure and the additional pressure applied by those already corrupted by the process.

One can vote for third party candidates (I often do) but they are usually only a symbolic vote wherein one is just saying to the major parties that here’s a vote you weren’t good enough to win. The tactic is not often effective given the continued success of the two big parties in elections.

Americans have three options for real reform: Constitutional Amendments to greatly reduce the role of money in elections and/or to alter the form of government to open it up to more influence by those not in the major parties; refuse to believe any political claims or promises made by people with a political agenda without enough evidence to convince an honest skeptic; or take over at least one (preferably both) parties from within and intelligently reform them (the Tea Party is working on the first half of the last option).