Reply #1: An important post that didn't get any attention, I see.

[Peace Patriot]

(goes beyond the election robbery, and )"...goes beyond Bush and the G.O.P., beyond Kerry and the Democrats, and even beyond all the biases and outright fraud in the electoral system, to include the capitalist relations of unequal wealth and power that structure all of the above."

Yes, the election robbery surely is a symptom of a much, much bigger problem--and I would add the wealth of the military-industrial machine and its desire for more war weightily into this huge problem--but, when we had more or less honest elections, we could enforce the public will that some of the wealth be shared, and that workers and the poor, have protection from the rich and powerful. A better balance was achieved. Full of contradictions, unfairness and injustice, true. But, well, more balance. That is all gone.