Been there, done that, got the bloody tee shirt. For over fifteen years I worked with a small cadre of conservatives, and even some liberals to try to get people elected to office who were not beholden to the Democratic party machine in the city of York, PA.
The machine makes the rules, knows the rules, enforces them, and doesn’t play by them. The money to support the machine comes from old money business owners who make money doing business with the city, mostly wasting taxpayer money on schemes that enrich them and their friends, while doing nothing to solve any of the problems of the city, such as rampant violent crime, outrageous taxes, and failing schools. It’s the same money laundering scheme that government employee unions use.
I hate to say this, but I’m not sure the electoral process hasn’t been rigged by both parties to prevent any meaningful change from happening.
I'm not sure that "both parties" is correct but it's *absolutely* true that *one* party has done so.It's the party that,among other things,fights tooth and nail against voter ID.
So its time to just give up and slit our wrists?
As a local Tea Party organizer, and Republican committee person-—— I can assure you that can put your doubts away, you are correct.
Dave; have you met Mr. Gleason? There’s your answer.
And that is exactly the reason there can be no ‘working within’ that system.
It’s either work outside it by coalescing a 2nd party or giving up entirely. People don’t want to have the ‘magic’ of Oz exposed and will lie to themselves/attack anyone exposing it. If they don’t believe it, it can’t be real.
But the facts are what they are.