Your whole argument is based on the premise that the two parties are just the same. I don't agree with that premise. Here are some differences that I see:

The republicans are the ones who write unconstitutional laws and use FEAR to divide and win elections. This FEAR gets laws like the Patriot Act passed. I don't see the democrats doing that. The R's are the ones who are allied with the christian-right evangelicals trying to ram a moral code down our throats. I don't see that from the D's. The R's are the ones who nominate right-wing justices---Thomas, Scalia, Roberts and Alito. The R's are the ones who program the machines that are stealing elections. (Maybe Hillary did it in the New Hampshire primary, but it could've been the R's trying to sink Obama.) The R's are the ones who refuse to regulate business. The R's are anti-labor union. The R's are the ones who deny global warming is caused by man. The R's are the ones who have brought secret government to new levels. I see the D's trying to open up the gov't. The R's deny science...

I don't think we would've seen anything close to this in a Gore administration.

The fascist push we've seen these last eight years I lay at the feet of the republicans.
I agree that the democrats capitulate and are spineless and are far too corporatist and militarist---but I see a lot of that as a reaction (or lack thereof) to the republican push.

If all I've stated above is no more than "lubricant" to you then we'll never agree. Which is a shame because I think in the end we want the same thing---we just can't agree on the way to get there...

And if I thought that voting for a third party would make a difference I would in a heartbeat. All it seems to do is push the democrats farther to the right, to "triangulate" or go after the "centrist" swing-voters. That's why the DLC was created. Can you come up with any other strategy than---vote third party! Because it doesn't seem to be working.

"It is people like you, through your "practicality" (read: misguided cynicism) who continue to cling to the myth of a "difference" who are partly responsible for keeping the so-called "uneducated" from becomeing enlightened. Because arguments such as yours only play into the myths perpetuated by the corporate MSM propaganda machine."

It seems to me that the corporate MSM propaganda machine WANT us to believe that our votes don't count for anything, that the parties ARE just the same. Why do you suppose so few people vote here. If Americans really thought there was a choice, and that their votes mattered, I think we'd see more people voting, don't you?

I mean---crimony! We All are living in a fascistic American Empire, we All are responsible for it, we All have innocent blood on our hands. To sit there and blame Obama or the Democrats for the mess we're in is both ignorant and counterproductive.