"Do you want the Blue Simms, or the White Simms?"

[Scene: two citizens of a small Carribbean Island country standing in the main town square, looking up at side-by-side posters of the two candidates for President]

"Are you going to vote for the Blue Simms, or the White Simms?"

Imagine a country, if you will, where you elect a President in a true democratic fashion (keep in mind we live in a republic). Each vote counts once. All citizens can vote. Sounds positively utopic, doesn't it? A place where most people would love to live.
Except that every political party is banned except the two principal parties, the Blue party and the White party. Now consider for a moment that the two principal parties decide to put forth the same candidate, one Alphonse Simms. The political posters in the scene show the same person, albeit in a different background. Obviously, anyone with a particle of gray matter between their ears would scream "Dictatorship!".
The movie is Moon over Parador, a 1988 remake of The Magnificent Fraud. It stars Richard Dreyfuss & Raul Julia. I won't bother to get into the specifics, other than to say for a "B" movie, it is a wonderful movie. I highly recommend the movie to everyone, if you can find it.
This scene came to mind this morning as I listened (once again) to the political rhetoric churned out by "our" two presidential candidates. I kept thinking to myself, "What's the difference between the two?" Obviously age & race, but does age really matter? and race does not matter. But look at the two from a political perspective for a moment. Are there really differences? I don't see a lot of differences. Sure, they highlight their differences, but look at the voting records of McCain & Obama. Most of the votes, they are on the same side. Look for yourself:
http://www.411mania.com/politics/columns/69733

Other than some areas (likely pressure from their respective parties), the two vote almost identical. So what are we really getting for our vote? Does it matter?