I think it's the crony capitalism/syndicated socialism quandry...essentially there's no difference when power gets that centralized, over time, then power is used to control, not to create. Corruption and decadence take priority...real life? not so much.
The self-proclaimed "elite" abandon accepted means of politics to maintain their power.
Interesting post from today looking at this issue (I've been getting a lot of synchronicity lately, probably karma saying sorry for fucking me out of DEFCON, LOL):
Delta vs. the Delta Response
my comment here at #237
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?blog=86&post=394888#c35186378