There have long been complaints about the two party system, which has finally devolved into offering the choice between two undesirable extremes.

Major League Baseball and Football have two-party systems — American and National leagues or conferences. It produces a good result each year — mostly. But it also has a farm-system where the good rise to the top or 10+ years of high school and college to allow excellence to be seen.

Our system could work, would work, if we didn’t have certain people influencing it at every turn. Courting favor, buying votes, nudging delegates. Remove the money from politics; reduce campaign spending to $25,000 per candidate and provide open communication channels to one and all and the bright and best would rise to the top.

Why do we see ten-foot walls of Budweiser or Coke, come Super Bowl or World Series time? Because they buy their way to the front of the stores.

Our American version of capitalism is a powerful force. But it has bled over every other aspect of our lives. We see it in hospitals, funeral homes, doctor’s offices, school corridors and on hundred-foot billboards everywhere. We sell our political candidates (those that we’ll entrust our government to) like we do beer, barbecues and booty. It’s great for innovation and technology and driving free enterprise. But look what it’s doing to the political process.

It’s right out of the Tim Allen (Home Improvement) playbook. Put a 100 horsepower motor on a blender and grind everything from cucumbers to grandfather clocks into a puree. There’s no discernment in this system — just a result.

It could work, we just need to remove outside money and influence.