The real reason we are not getting the reform we expected from congress and the white house is...

 They don't consider for a minute going against the  health insurance industry,or the  other corporations and the banks either. People don't seem to really believe that they are the real power in this country. They think it, but somehow don't let themselves realize that we will never get any real reform on ANYTHING because of it. These special interests get what they want and the government is a PR shill who are just  trying to paint this turd a pretty color for us, the Mob. Bread and circuses- this is an age old strategy that works.

The two party system is so locked in that we will never get any real representation. Howard Dean was a candidate that was skyrocketing to popularity  in 2000 with a huge influx of internet generated money.  For a short while he was a media celebrity, but he was soon recognized as a real threat to the system and he was destroyed by one video clip of him shouting like a madman to his audience of supporters, played a million times for a week or so. That was the end of Howard Dean for President, one of the very few honest men in politics to this day ( that's why he's out). The media consciously, deliberately destroyed him with that video clip that was completely false. What they did was isolate his microphone on stage and completely cut out the roar of the crowd that he had to yell over to be heard.  They purposely made him look like a madman, completely falsely.

 How do we stand a chance with the power they have to lie to us about everything? there is no more truth in politics, there are no facts anymore- it's all positions, talking points. and opinions. Truth and facts are dead in the mainstream.

 Here at TyT and at other progressive/anti-establishm ent/revolutionary websites, we get the truth but to a relatively microscopic audience.  the Owners (as Carlin put it) could care less if 20 or 30 or even 40 % of the population becomes aware and outraged at the game being played on them. Look what just happened in November 2008:  a significant majority were ecstatic over electing Obama and the change he promised. Do you all feel like  complete, gullible fools now or not? I do- I wanted to believe it too

I'm 64 years old,and I've seen this country go from bad to worse to terrible in my lifetime despite all the protests  marches and opposition that exists and has existed for ever.

We have had a high standard of living because we ( the corporate/banking/military complex,that is) have been raping the world for 60 years and now it's the American people's turn to be raped. Even our usefulness as "Consumers" is over- we have no money to consume with. But there's an emerging world out there of new customers, they don't need us any more. They have the worlds most bloated military to use against any other country that has something we want- Iraq, Afghanistan being only the latest victims. If they get their way, Iran is next and they are using the exact same lies to demonize Iran that they always use. And what's Iran's crime? They oppose the ultra-right wing government of Israel  and support the Palestinians. Oh, yeah, they have a lot of oil.

 I know this is pretty pessimistic - but there it is. After 64 years of seeing war after war,  a degenerating mass culture, a slow, piece by piece shredding of the constitution and bill of rights, and the ever tightening economic screws, I think this feeling is fairly well justified.