I suppose it's a credit to its architects that they've been able to keep is more or less obscure.

Maybe, but people are pretty stupid.

Where I reside, there almost seems to be a stigma associated with conversing in public about things that actually matter. I'm not going to pretend there is a rabid, completely pervasive culture of anti-intellectualism in America, but I'm not going to deny its existence either.

It's rare to hear a civil debate in person, or see a civil discourse take place on most forums. Even then, people seem to settle into their ground state of regurgitating special interest talking points and partisan ideologies.

Researching and talking about the faults of the entire political system? Well, that's one of the reasons I'm on Hubski.

My thanks to minimum_wage and yourself, b_b, for the postings.

Edit: Also, yes, I think a lot of people realize that something stinks in Washington, but everybody blames the other guy for farting, meanwhile an invisible storm surge of sewage has been seeping over every landscape. Obviously, this is a shitty analogy for the "deep state". Also obviously, that was a shitty pun. Sorry, internet.