2. The semblance of division between democratically elected political parties masks a broad consensus. Disagreements are marginal to the reality of the social order in a capitalist society run for the benefit of the middle class majority that no political leader would propose to change. Promises of a new world order are deceiving alibis for shared impotence. The reality of economic decline makes most differences between political parties trivial. What the voters see is not the arguments regarding such differences but their futility, not the public servant solving problems but the party hack whose importance is entirely self-invented. The politician as hero is an extinct species.