There was a time when choosing a political party was not terribly difficult. You either picked the party of your parents or the one that best represented a particular issue important to you – both in the same party if you were lucky. When you became disillusioned enough, you could declare yourself an Independent and reek as much havoc as possible on election politics.

There’s growing and alarming evidence that an elitist ruling class has infiltrated both parties, making the ‘choice’ an illusion. The same people are elected year after year regardless how well – or not – they have been doing their jobs. The changing of the party in majority has little or no effect on the overall direction of policy. It’s little wonder that many become disheartened and begin to believe the lie that they have no power and that their vote doesn’t count.

That’s right – the LIE. No one – not even politicians – bothers to placate the powerless. No one bothers to try and control those who cannot resist. No one tries to silence others – unless they fear them.

Let’s assume that both parties are in collusion (I’m dubious of this – human beings talk A LOT, which is why big conspiracies are very rarely successful). If so, they’ve been in power for at least two decades, likely more. So why maintain the pretense of democracy? Why risk unpredictable election outcomes that might rock their conspiratorial boat? There’s only one major reason – because their power is NOT absolute. They do not have a stable basis of power that can disregard those beneath them. They are still very much dependent on the people they govern allowing themselves to be governed.

That’s not to say that aspects of the hypothesis aren’t true – or at least moving that way. Both major parties are having increasing issues with their bases which are becoming more dissatisfied with how well the parties are actually carrying out their respective platforms. This is especially critical in the Republicans. This lack of satisfactory performance is the best evidence for the elitist hypothesis.

Republicans are almost used to electing people who promise much and deliver little. Almost. Then they elected Trump. Whatever else you can say about Trump, he made a heck of an effort to keep his campaign promises, succeeding far more often than any of his Republican predecessors in decades. Nothing could have been more Earth shattering for the Republican party.

Now they have a base that is no longer inclined to accept lackluster performance. A base that is largely fiscally and socially conservative in a way that many of the top ranking Republicans are not. And that base is flexing its muscle – this is in part why so many top ranking Republicans are doing so poorly in their own party. Voting for the impeachment only painted RINO targets on their collective backs.

Democrats aren’t having a good time, either. Divisive politics are effective – to a point. It gets attention off your party’s performance and onto the ‘bad guy’. It upsets voters and drives them into the voting booth – historically, an advantage for Democrats. It lets your party take the moral high road – in appearance, anyway.

But divisive politics have a nasty sting in the tail – eventually you have a bunch of true believers who are absolutely convinced that the other side is an insufferable evil and must be destroyed. Now you’re stuck – if you give them what they want, they will eventually be coming after you. Angry mobs are like voracious locusts – there is no way to satisfy them. And of course, if you don’t give them what they want soon enough, they come after you anyway.

It’s this kind of internal pressure that’s doing damage to the Democrat Party now. They may not use the term DINO as often as their counterparts but the sentiment is definitely there. But it’s more that the two factions -traditional Democrats and leftist Democrats – are in a fight for control of the party with their base somewhat undecided which, if either, faction it favors.

On the surface, it makes the Democrats look more united; in reality, it may just be a precursor to losing most of their centrists and moderates. These people are most likely to go independent or drop out of political participation if they do become disgruntled enough with their party’s infighting. That, if it were to happen in any significant numbers, would spell the end for the current Democrat Party.

The Republicans are more likely to simply change actual leadership than to disintegrate. That’s simply because the traditional part of the party has the least support among the base which is much less likely to lose political interest. That translates into what we’re already seeing – top ranking Republicans facing loss of power, prestige and even office.

Neither party is unscathed – and neither will come out of this the same. The internet age makes us impatient – we expect political change in the same time it takes to download a movie. That’s not only unrealistic – it’d be a really bad plan. So change won’t be instantaneous (unless one of the parties doesn’t something REALLY stupid) but the wheels are in motion.

So let’s add some GREASE!

Neither party can afford to ignore their constituents – even the ones that didn’t vote them in. Putting increased pressure both internally on the parties (they DO have meetings, you know, and websites and social media pages…) and externally on the elected representatives (and they have direct email addresses!) only forces the parties to make changes faster. Not lightspeed – this isn’t a sci-fi movie – but considerably faster than the glacial pace leadership will choose if left to its own devices.

Whichever party you support, it’s on you to leash that party and clean up after it. Political parties are a lot like big dogs – they can be a joy to walk when well trained or a nightmare when not. They’re also really funny to watch as they attempt the walking on political ice.

Even if you believe the elites have taken control, it’s far from hopeless. It took over 18 years to get rid of the British and nearly eighty more to get rid of slavery – but we did both of those things. Neither political party currently has that kind of longevity shy of a miracle or an electorate that just plain doesn’t vote anymore.

The choice is up to us. It’s not longer which party to vote for but what will those parties be in five years.

Let’s make it a good one.