As events from this past week portray, there is a growing divide between the leadership within the two major political parties and members of the American public.

Just about everyone these days seems to be either overcome with fear or anger in this election cycle, and for good reasons. It might not be pretty, but that's one of the major benefits of having elections every few years...it helps to air out our republic and allows for a re-examination of where we stand as a nation, a repudiation of things we don't like, and a re-affirmation of things we do like.

As a middle of the road independent that is just as underwhelmed as the rest of America with the options we have to choose from come November, let me just say that I get it.

The hardest part of getting people to adopt a new paradigm concerning anything of any import and complexity is getting them to unlearn their old one. A paradigm comprises all the assumptions and concepts that we subconsciously (or unconsciously) use to perceive the world, and they are not destroyed easily.

That word “perceive” is used advisedly: our concepts, which constitute our paradigm, determine not only how we interpret our world, but how we see it.

Senate Candidate Everett Stern identifies an all-consuming sense of apathy as one of the major problems facing America today. Apathy and cynicism, he says, have robbed citizens of their hopes and dreams, and all but snuffed out the spirit of innovation that once helped this nation become a world leader.

As is the nature of a federal republic, all too often major presidential elections come down to just a handful of states. This year, it's beginning to look like ten states will make or break the presidential bids for the White House:

The Democrats have a slight lead in the secure electoral votes. Being able to consistently claim California is definitely a major boost.

“The land of the free and the home of the brave.” This is where Americans are told they live. Unfortunately, this is only partly true. “Freedom” is a broad term that does not simply reflect daily mundanities such as choice of occupation and housing options.

In any free society the ability to choose one’s leaders is a hallmark of true liberty. Americans do not have this particular brand of freedom. Voters have been systematically brainwashed into hitching their wagons to one of the frighteningly dominant political parties.

In the aftermath of the departures of both U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio from the Republican presidential primary contest, the public’s attention is now beginning to shift toward a general election race between real estate mogul Donald Trump and the likely Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

There is little doubt that the major national parties have, on the whole, behaved atrociously this election season.

Let’s be clear here. Major-party primaries in the US are absurd.

Parties in most countries select their nominees privately and pay for it on their own dime. That’s not surprising either considering that political parties are private organizations.

In the US, however, parties do their primaries publicly. That may sound nice, but as private organizations, US parties get to make their own rules. These rules conveniently include who gets to vote and how those votes are counted.

Do we think it’s just "happenstance" that we’ve had just two parties (that have achieved representation in our government) for 200+ years? Do we think it's just by chance that the Greens, Libertarians, and Socialists just haven’t caught on yet?  That only once in a blue moon does an independent get elected?