Possibly, but I think it was a clear message from the GOPe; this is no longer a government of the People by the People ... it doesn't matter who you vote for; the Washington cartel still exists.
Yup. Does anyone recall this passage:
"But either party in office over time becomes corrupt, tired, unenterprising, and vigorless. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party, which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies."
-- p. 1248, Carroll Quigley,
Tragedy & Hope, First Edition, First Printing, 1966
Prefacing that from the prior page:
"The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy."
-- p. 1247-8, Carroll Quigley,
Tragedy & Hope, First Edition, First Printing, 1966
Many have probably heard of Professor Quigley (one of Bill Clinton's closest mentors from Georgetown) when he and his writings were discussed in the 1970s (e.g.,
The Naked Capitalist) and later when Glenn Beck brought them to light in his
Overton Window book.
Quigley had very close relationships with the power brokers of his time, he used these relationships to discover a great deal of the philosophies and motivations of these people. He used this knowledge to document much of it in his written work, even though he found himself at odds with some of it, especially over time. He is certainly a controversial figure (at times vigorously denounced by the both the "left" and the "right"), but if you take the time to read some of his work, you will see the profound genius (and ability to synthesize like no other) that he had in understanding and documenting the history of civilization.
The excerpts above represent the thinking of the power elites at the time.
I bring it up to provide some context to the question, "How come the only difference between the two parties seems to be their written platforms (that merely gather dust for four years between conventions) and the rhetoric that they use to attract our votes?"
It isn't an accident.
