Now that I've gotten the above statement out of my system, let me respond to your comments, IDC.
I must say I agree with you whole-heartedly regarding the degradation of the American education system and the media control of so many aspects of our lives. Though you don't actually come out and say it, you hint at the idea that the election system in this country has been seriously compromised by the TV news groups, and I have to say that this does seem to be the case. But I think there is more to the story.

Yes, our education system is failing, but why? It's certainly not the fault of the teachers. They work hard to do something they love, only to be attacked (verbally) by administrator and parents because their students aren't passing certain standardized tests. But as you point out, even passing those tests does not signify that a student is educated. Just that he's learned to pass that test!

As parents of two grown children we had our own problems with the school system, but never with individual teachers. And our solution was simple: we limited the children's TV time, monitored the video games they played, taught them to enjoy reading boods, did NOT buy them cell phones so they could spend all their time talking to their friends when they should have been studying. In short, we took responsibility for our children's education, we didn't delegate that responsibility to some bureaucrat we'd never met.

We now seem to have a generation of people who have come through that failed education system and are far more interested in the self-destructive antics of some failed pop-stars than they are in any real meaningful issues. And the media, knowing which side of their own bread is buttered, caters to those mindless drones by feeding them all the dirty little details. Naturally, those in power love this, since the biggest threat to any corrupt or inept government is an educated populace. They are quite content to feed the masses drivel in order to pacify them.

As for the current crop of presidential candidates, whether they are capable or not, whether they are popular or not, whether the media will give them fair coverage or not, it doesn't really make a hell of a lot of difference. The bureaucracy of the American government system has gotten so bloated and out of control that it doesn't really matter who's in the Oval Office any more. Unless and until the American people are willing to rip out the heart of this bureaucracy and send the career politicians packing, sending them home to do some REAL work, and arrest and prosecute those who have taken bribes and those who have offered them, the business of big government will go on uninterrupted.

Whether we like it or not, this government is controlled by big business. Those who really control things, the clerks in their offices typing up the laws, the lobbyists sending lawmakers on expensive vacations, the whole mess of government, are basically there to keep the CEO's rich and powerful. Until we are ready to get out from under those CEO's we can settle for the really serious issue of whether or not steroids have destroyed baseball. As if anyone really cares.