[TheRealThing]

I agree with most of what you and RIUTG said above, but let me point out a couple of things. First, five years before Obama was nominated by the Democrats, nobody could have imagined that he would have been the nominee in 2008. He had given one good speech in 2004 at the Democrats' convention and had less than two years experience in the U.S. Senate before he decided to run for president. If Democrats could get a totally unqualified candidate such as Obama nominated, then there is plenty of time for them to find another incompetent nominee who can read a teleprompter.

My second point is that it was not the Democrats who tagged Cruz with the blame for the government shutdown, it was the Republican establishment. All of the usual suspects helped make Cruz the scapegoat and they continue to lie about the political damage that the shutdown did to the party. Karl Rove, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Michael Steele,...the list goes on and on of Republican moderates who disparaged Cruz for doing the right thing.

Sure, Democrats were happy to play along, but the GOP party "leaders" are the ones who stabbed Cruz in the back. IMO, they did so because they agree with much of Obama's agenda or lack the political courage to oppose it in any meaningful way.

When speaking of Republicans stabbing the likes of Cruz, I wish I could honestly say that I didn't know what you are talking about. But I have seen it from Karl Rove on a couple of occasions. I make my judgments based on relatively less information than you are likely privy to within the beltway, and I did not pick up on the fact that Cruz was victim to the interests of party elitists. Although I was aware of the shots that John McCain has taken at him. People like those you have mentioned need to stop trying to rig the system and allow the will of the voter to prevail.

To my way of thinking, there are two major threats to our system of governance. The first one, and one that the founders could not have envisioned IMHO, is the affect of television. Using that resource, attempts to manipulate the minds of voters have been made with some success from both sides of the aisle. The other was anticipated by the founders and that is the worry that the white house could be bought for a price. The affect of MONEY, in other words, and is part and parcel to your observations about the string pullers. So, to me it all boils down to one fundamental problem. Integrity. If politicians are willing to lie in order to gain or maintain power, then it becomes obvious that the common man is toast.

Unfortunately, those alabaster halls may full of the putrefied bones of dead men. They still look the part from the outside, but true integrity cannot be bought.