Here'w something Alexander Cockburn had to say about this general topic yesterday at CounterPunch:

http://www.counterpunch.org/andrew07022009.html

Anyone that still thinks that we in the United States are the citizens of a democracy is an out-and-out schmendrick. This is government on lease! The system has been so utterly corrupted by these paramecia that any connection between the franchise and realized policy is purely coincidental. The opposition party, whomever it may be, serves simply to funnel public fury into a enormous blackhole. You comment, “what can you say!”. I say what remains is solely recourse to mass demonstrations and the general strike.