October 11, 2002 was the day I stopped affiliating myself with the Democratic Party. That was the day Hillary Clinton and many other Democratic senators joined with their Republican counterparts in voting to authorize the Iraq War, the greatest foreign policy catastrophe since the Vietnam War. From that day forward I was an Independent.

The Democratic Party is a terrible, terrible, terrible political party. It is a terrible party because it is dominated by an elitist establishment of limousine liberals, represented by figures like Hillary Clinton, who could care less about insane income inequality, corporate-domination of elections (i.e. the Citizens United decision), trade deals that hurt American workers, prosecuting Wall Street criminals, and more problems that ordinary Americans face.

It is also the party of incrementalism. When a dire emergency like climate change demands immediate and bold action, the party establishment's solution is to pass another series of wimpy climate bills and EPA ordinances (in contrast, the French have now mandated that all new buildings in commercial zones across the country must be covered with plants or solar panels).

On matters of foreign policy, the Democratic Party differs (at least officially) in significant ways from the GOP in how to use American power, and the tactics to be employed in maintaining empire, but is nonetheless committed to the idea of a Pax Americana. It is also committed to the idea of the "national security state," which has become a state-within-a-state, an unelected shadow government that spies on its citizens and political leaders, assassinates people abroad, covers up monumental crimes (i.e. Saudi Arabia's role in 9/11), and partners with defense contractors to make war a very profitable enterprise.

If this were Europe the Democratic Party would rightly be labeled as a center-right party. Only in America can the Democrats pass themselves off as the party of progressives and liberals.

The Republican Party is also a terrible, terrible, terrible political party. If the Democratic Party is the party of no ideas and no bold action, then the GOP is the party of bad ideas and bold actions that lead to utter catastrophe (such as the Iraq War). And it is a party that has grown only more extremist over the years, a fact that has finally resulted in the rise of dangerous demagogues like Donald Trump.

Unfortunately, the two parties hold a monopoly on political power in this country. If this election year has proven one thing, it is this: that our two-party system is controlled by establishment elites that do not represent our interests, that the entire game is rigged to keep these elites in control of our lives, that voting in this country is merely a choice between the lesser of two evils, and that the whole process is an utter fraud designed to project only an image of democracy. Only an image.

If there is one thing Americans of all political persuasions can agree upon, it is that that these two political parties are corrupt to the core, that they are both beholden to corporate and special interests, and that their notion of democracy is to rig the electoral game in favor of their elitist candidates.

We the people have got to change this dynamic. No longer can we tolerate a corrupt two-party monopoly where both parties are themselves monopolized by an elitist cabal. There either needs to be more parties to choose from, or the establishments of the Democratic and Republican parties have to be overthrown by a political revolution that candidates like Bernie Sanders have been calling for. So far the party establishments have shown that they will not surrender willingly and will fight to the death to maintain their political monopoly.