Willette, I don't think the choices are even close to that extreme. I think our 2-party system as it is now is rigged to give us a choice between "Same" and "More of the Same."
There may be some interesting (or not) rhetorical differences between the platforms of the Republicans and the Democrats, and certainly there are huge gulfs between the far-right Republican bible-thumpers and the far-left Government as Mom wing of the Democrats, but even the extremes aren't really socialists and fascists, that's just their election-dogma drag.
Both parties, in the end, rely on the centrists who form their majorities and don't have materially different desires and expectations. They want a balanced budget, lower taxes, universal health care, great public education, fewer intrusive government regulations but greater protection from the dangers they care most about, genuine security and no wars ever, no changes to the Social Security provisions (except increased benefits) and again lower taxes.....well, who among us can deny this? We want it all; that's the American Dream.
So, under the old principle that you get what you pay for, we keep electing these same old guys who tell us that "yes, sure, I can get that for you."
In what may be the best and certainly the funniest book written about the American government, Parliament of Whores, P.J. O'Rourke described what he would consider a perfect politician's platform:
"Why, send yours truly to Capitol Hill, and I'll ship the swag home in boxcar lots. You'll be paving the roads with bacon around here when I get done shoveling out the pork barrel. There'll be government jobs for your dog. Leave your garden hose running for fifteen minutes, and I'll have the Department of Transportation build an 8-lane suspension bridge across the puddle. Show me a wet basement and I'll get you a naval base and make your Roto-Rooter man an admiral of the fleet. There'll be farm subsidies for every geranium you've got in a pot, defense contracts for Junior's spitballs and free day care for Sister's dolls. You'll get unemployment for the sixteen hours every day when you're not at your job, full disability benefits if you have to get up in the night to take a leak, and Social Security checks will come in the mail not just when you retire at sixty-five but when you retire each night to bed. Taxes? Hell, I'll have the government go around every week putting money back in your paycheck, and I'll make the IRS hire chimpanzees from the zoo to audit your tax returns. Vote for me, folks, and you'll be farting through silk."
And you know, they're all promising us that, and we're voting for them.
