Heh, I think your last sentence of your post outlined exactly the conundrum as citizens we find ourselves in, FRiend.
It means we aren’t being governed.
It means our tax money is being extracted for their own personal use.
It means we are enslaved.
More or less, I agree. The entire time creating the illusion we are free. The two parties rely on each other, it maintains clear division and keeps us from uniting against them.
I have believed for many years now that it’s one party (more or less). Most of these folks have worked together for decades, they are like a dysfunctional family. When it takes months or more to pass a bill I say horse crap. It’s only to keep adding more divisive issues, the news reports them and like good serfs we fight. All the while they are adding far worse, but we don’t read, we trust politicians and news to tell us. This is the exact reason we have all the surveillance etc al now. Both sides snuck it in another covid bill in 2020.