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Unfortunately nothing will change until the American public moves beyond the two major party paradigm. Ever since the political system became dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the 1850's, they have always betrayed the public in favor of their financial supporters. The whole game has been to control the party apparatus to dispense party patronage and corrupt favors. These two rotten parties colluded to rig election laws, district boundaries, campaign financing, and every other aspect of the political system to favor themselves. The only thing that will get their attention is when the public either forces one of the major parties out of existence or overthrows the system. The other possibility is that the system could collapse on its own weight.
Unfortunately nothing will change until the American public moves beyond the two major party paradigm. Ever since the political system became dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the 1850's, they have always betrayed the public in favor of their financial supporters. The whole game has been to control the party apparatus to dispense party patronage and corrupt favors. These two rotten parties colluded to rig election laws, district boundaries, campaign financing, and every other aspect of the political system in favor of themselves. The only thing that will get their attention is when the public either forces one of the major parties out of existence or overthrows the system. The other possibility is that the system could collapse on its own weight.
The key game that the politicians have played for at least 150 years is to balance the three different rival political cultures within this country against each other to keep themselves in power. There are very real philosophical, cultural, and political differences between these rival political cultures (New England, Midlands, and South) that were identified by Alexis de Toqueville in the 1830's. The roots of it even go back into the 17th century. This rivalry is deep and not going away. The end product of it is stalemate for any meaningful change.
The organization you helped start to fund opposition candidates in order to end the betrayal is a good first step toward eliminating the rot. But given that it has continued for so long, there is no guarantee that it will actually work, and every reason to believe it will ultimately fail.
What really needs to happen for all elections to be made competitive, and for the system to allow all candidates to be rejected, with the rejected barred from running in subsequent rounds, until someone has been elected. Election campaigns are too expensive and way too long. The whole system is completely absurd; it takes longer to run for an office and raise campaign contributions than the term of office. In most other countries, especially those with parliamentary system, campaigning lasts only six to eight weeks. It is short, intense, and final.
As it currently stands, the US government has become completely dysfunctional. The signs are everywhere: huge trade deficits, huge fiscal deficits, two failing wars, two failing military occupations, debates about false choices, collapsing manufacturing, inability to convert the energy system away from fossil fuels (even as our allies move to do so), huge debts for individuals, corporations, and government at all levels, and worst of all - the treasury is being looted in a bipartisan frenzy of cronyistic bailouts and subsidies. This is not the way to stay a major power.
Eventually, the public may conclude that they would be better off without this corrupt system. In which case, the public will force it either to change or to collapse. We, the people, may be better off splitting the country to end this game.
