The long and short of it is, I can no longer believe in the rationalization that the lesser evil paves the way by compromise to incremental change. Power & wealth has come to be concentrated in too few hands, the news and elections are both paid for by the oligarchy, whose tools and mechanisms of power are the corporations and banking/investment institutions. Even when a representative plays the system with good intentions--as I think Obama tries to do, it's too late.
There's only one political party--and it has locked the prison door for democracy. The Dems are the enablers in a dysfunctional relationship, handing out just enough relief to keep the wage slaves from waking up, while the Pugs serve their masters to an ever greater share of the pie.
We need a strong, New-Socialist/green party... unlikely. Our best hope, unfortunately, is to hope for the worst--the collapse of the economy on a such a scale that a new politics can emerge from the chaos. It was along those lines I played with the idea of not voting. If there were a way of casting a blank ballet, rather than just opting out, I would have done that.
Obama plays this game of appealing to the corporate whores in congress with the idea that it's possible to broker compromise by assuming that programs that would lift the whole economy will appeal to both sides. As though there were such a thing as 'THE' economy--a measure of economic well being that encompasses everyone. There's not. What benefits the holders of wealth now has little correlation with the greater good--they are so few, that even a huge downturn like we've been going through, doesn't touch them. They go on getting richer while everyone else gets poorer. And tens of thousands die as 'collateral damage' for distraction. Same old same old. And the more they get, the more they're able to control news, elections... watch what happens with redistricting coming up.
I don't know what kind of revolution it would take, but short of that... I don't think there's a ghost of hope for the future. I grieve for those with young children... and for the lives they can expect.
What's to be done... but take such pleasure in the beauty & joy of the moment as we're offered and hang on to the belief that if there is hope for renewal--there is where it will come from.