John McCain and Barack Obama both abandon their supporters in their quest for the elusive swing vote

In the movie Swing Vote, due out this weekend, a New Mexico man (played by Kevin Costner) somehow becomes the deciding factor in an election. Apparently some people aren't aware that this is an implausible premise.

John McCain and Barack Obama have both been operating as if such an outcome is possible. As the primary election has turned to the general election both have been systematically abandoning their base of supporters in an effort to appeal to independent, undecided, and cross-party voters. Their positions on issues have become muddled, and have even changed in many cases. No longer do the Democrats or Republicans stake out clearly-defined political turf, and each no longer stand for a set of clearly-defined values. Each have now virtually merged to become a twisted amalgamation of their former selves, and both parties now clearly favor the "rights" of government or the "rights" of big business over the rights of the people. Both John McCain and Barack Obama have turned into political chameleons--shape-shifters--each altering their appearance either to fit a predetermined schedule, to suit the audience before them, or to reach the stated goals of their behind-the-scenes puppet-masters.

The media has begun to, as expected, trumpet how close this election is becoming. As with prior elections this is nothing more than an institutionalized effort to keep as many people locked into the two-party system as possible, and discourage those that many be thinking of voting for a third-party candidate. It's clear, though, that there is so little difference between John McCain and Barack Obama that questions of what might happen if one or the other gets elected are rendered virtually irrelevant. The only time their differences even enter the equation is when you listen to (and naively believe) the assertions of each team's partisan cheerleaders as they struggle to create a justification for why their candidate should be the one to seize the awesome powers of our out-of-control government. These justifications are self-serving, and only represent each side's desire for self-aggrandizement.

It's clear that the Democrats and Republicans are hopelessly tainted, and it's clear that the two-party system is irretrievably broken. The only solution is for everyone to abandon the system entirely, and for everyone to vote for third-party candidates exclusively. The time has come for the public to stop allowing the "major" parties to push them around. These two parties have zero incentive to clean up their act so long as they can count on you to vote for one or the other each election cycle. It needs to be understood that the "major" parties haven't truly been separate for a long, long time now; they are each two sides of the same coin, and the competition between them is nothing more than an illusion to ease the minds of the unsuspecting and uninformed.

Withdraw your support for the two-party system today, or face an incalculably more difficult tomorrow.