Dear Fred,
You have brought out the truth about present day politics in a lucid manner. Your commentary on American politics is remarkable in that it can as well be called a commentary on Indian politics, if the name of the country is changed. And it would, I think, fit as a commentary on any of the other 'democratic' nations in today's world. Such is the universality of the problem and the fundamental cause underlying it.

You have rightly said that if we the voters decide to prefer candidates based on their virtues then a new political system that ensures True Democracy can be built. The problem is that many of the voters would do so if a workable honest system is really available. Hence it is imperative that such a system is at least first theoretically devised. Otherwise talk about a honest system can be dismissed as being utopian.

I have been interested in devising precisely such a system and a strategy to make it into a reality, for the past several years. I hope you have gone through my proposal titled 'Conscience-based political system'. Regarding the query you have raised in another thread, my last post on 'Conscience' contains the answer to it.

With regards,

PVR