Broken Politics

In what is obviously the most important election since the last one, Massachusetts will elect a senator to replace the late Ted Kennedy. And regardless of who wins, it's another shining example of how badly our political system is broken. With each election, we move further and further into a choice between uninspiring mediocrity or downright nihilist mendacity.
Take this election (please): the democratic candidate to replace Kennedy, a true giant of American legislative history, Martha Coakley, arrogantly assumed that she could win the seat merely by having a "D" behind her name. Her 'campaign' was an exercise in listless, vanilla flavored platitudes stating that all she had to offer is being a democrat in a predominately democratic state. Not the sort of stuff that motivates voter turnout.
Then there's the republican...damn...could Scott Brown be any more typical of the current republicans? One simple example: he voted against funding for 9/11 rescue workers, while at the same time voting to fund a golf course; this is called "fiscal responsibility" by his party. He's done an effective job of tapping into the 'tea party' anger and the party of "no" anti-government sentiment by promising to oppose anything Obama attempts (I guarantee that he'll vote against any 'jobs' bill) to do. Another "cut taxes and drown the government in a bathtub", "government doesn't work, and I'm going to make sure it doesn't" vote in the senate, protecting the rich and privileged by insuring that the future will be worse for the masses.
These are the kind of choices we get in our corporate controlled political system. Should a truly dynamic candidate emerge in a race, the media will marginalize him/her as "extremist" and the big money political brokers will mobilize to defeat the "insurgent." That is our current political reality, and the majority of voters don't seem to care. After all, there's a new season of "American Idol" to keep them distracted.