Illusion of Democracy

By now, you're probably rejoicing over the fact that the Democrats are doing better than usual and those Republicans are getting what they deserve. And your natural instinct would be to expect things to change for the better. So lets look at the following example issues and contemplate the possibility of any substantial change actually being made by the Democrats.

• Oil
• Iraq/Afghanistan
• Defense spending (apparently someone thinks defense spending is going to slow down. US defense stocks take a hit
• Anyone with less than a billion dollars in their bank having a fair shot at being a senator/congressman
• Health Care
• Military Commissions Act (OK, torture, martial law, whats not to like ?)
• National Space Policy 2006 (aka renewed Star Wars, aka America's war on the Universe)
• Patriot Act(s)
• Prison Population (closely related to War on Drugs)
• Income inequality 
• Organized labor (I mean lack of)
• Gun Control
• GWBs signing statements
• "Tax Breaks"
• Global treaties on Global Warming, Nuclear Non-Proliferation and international law in general
• Apocalypse Soon
• Corrupt Lobbyists
• Corporate financed electoral candidates
• Elections being essentially an exercise in Public Relations (did you think democracy ?)
• Media Concentration

What are the chances that any of these (vital) issues are going to be tackled seriously (other than lip service) ? If you believe things are going to change significantly within the existing power system, keep dreaming. You think your vote counts ? Democracy as it exists currently is just an illusion. An election that fields candidates hand-picked by corporations isn't my idea of a democracy.