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The big lie about change is that neither party wants to change anything. The Democrats and Republicans love their power, influence, and wealth. The two parties always agree when it involves tax rebates and pork projects for their constituents. They have no problem spending our grandchildren’s money to get re-elected in November. No politician is willing to tell the American people the blunt truth that we have an epic financial crisis that must be addressed in the next 10 years. The media spends weeks discussing lipstick, bulldogs, pigs, and hockey moms. We are wasting precious time. Our society is dominated by present self-interest to the detriment of the best interests of our future generations. We need leaders who are willing to speak the truth and convince the country to change course before it is too late.(1)

Don't get me wrong. Despite my jaded tone, I'm a strong believer in "change." But I look for it within my community, and more often than not, within myself. True "hope" and true "change" come from within one's soul; they don't emerge out of shallow platitudes uttered by career politicians residing 3,000 miles away in Washington. (2)

By far, the greatest challenge that we must overcome is the entrenched ruling elite that run this country. The ruling elite includes the crooked politicians in Washington, the lifetime bureaucrats who run the various governmental agencies, the paid lobbyists who write the laws for Congress, obscenely overpaid short-term profit-driven corporate CEOs, media conglomerates, and the privileged Wall Street aristocracy. These privileged few are surrounded by leeches and parasites (media consultants, pollsters, spin artists, and PR agencies) that attack anyone who threatens their position of power. The only way to overturn their comfortable world is an uprising among the masses. (1)

Washington is a multi-billion dollar, monolithic entity – composed of hundreds of career lawmakers, as well as thousands of agencies, corporate lobbyists, and lifelong bureaucrats. Aside from the 535 members of Congress, many of whom are faceless even among their own constituents, this Leviathan operates in a manner that is entirely unaccountable to the voting public. (2) The senior senator from Arizona has held his seat since 1982 – back when gas cost $1.28 a gallon, a new car cost under eight grand, and you could buy a new home for about $80,000. By my count, McCain has had 26 years in Washington to deliver the sort of "changes" he's promising now. Has he? (1)

The real issues, however, are buried in a barrage of miscellaneous nonsense and endless pontifications by robotic pundits hired to perpetuate the myth of a campaign of substance. The truth is that our two-party system offers no real choice. The real goal of the campaign is to distract people from considering the real issues. Those candidates who represent actual change or disagreement with the status quo are held in check by the two major parties in power, making it very difficult to compete in the pretend democratic process.(3)