It’s official. Elections really don’t matter anymore. Some time last year, our two-party system completed its final metamorphosis; we now have one homogenous, autocratic, government leviathan. Any further appeals to the beast are pointless.
 

When the Democrats are this smugly satisfied with the new Republican federal budget – a $1 Trillion Spendathon that includes funding for everything most of the Republicans ran against (Obamacare, Planned Parenthood, sanctuary cities, the Iran Deal – but NOT “the wall”) – you know it’s pretty much game-over ~

Democratic leaders touted the agreement as a victory, claiming to have blocked 160 “poison pill” Republican policy riders and stymied many of Trump’s priorities, especially on border enforcement
 
“We have eliminated more than 160 Republican poison pill riders, ranging from undermining a woman’s right to reproductive health to dismantling Dodd-Frank’s vital Wall Street consumer protections,” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “The omnibus does not fund President Trump’s immoral and unwise border wall or create a cruel new deportation force.”

 
As Rush Limbaugh asked Mike Pence today ~

If this is what happens, Mr. Vice President, why vote Republican? What is the point of voting Republican if the Democrats are going to continue to win practically 95% of their objectives, such as in this last budget deal?” […]
 
Why is the president now suggesting a budget shutdown in September-October. If it’s no good now, why is it good then? You guys were sent there to drain the swamp, there’s a clear Trump agenda that just isn’t seeable, it’s not visible in this budget, and some people are getting concerned that there’s more concern for bipartisanship and crossing the aisle to work with Democrats than there is in draining the swamp.” […]
 
Why is anybody voting Republican if this is what happens when we win. We won the House. We won the Senate. We won the White House. And the Democrats thwarted everything we supposedly said we were going to do with our victory.”

[For his part, the vice president touted the increase in military spending and repeated the ususal “we’ll get ’em next time” mantra]

Those of us who voted to drain-the-swamp (especially we conservatives who initially supported an inspiring candidate who vowed to break up the Washington Cartel), must finally come to terms with the depressing fact; we-the-people are now at the mercy of an insatiable, entrenched oligarchy.
 
Note sure where we go from here.. Although, here’s a thought.

 
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Related:
Levin tears into Republican ‘liars’: ‘They want Obamacare’ ~

“We’ve been waiting … for thirty years,” Levin said of Republicans promising to make good on their statements in favor of free market legislation. “They don’t want to repeal Obamacare,” he explained.
 
“The Republicans buy into this propaganda,” he added of the congressional legislators’ unwillingness to repeal the main tenets of Obamacare. “They want Obamacare, even though it’s unsustainable.”
 
“We have liars. Deceitful, dishonest men and women who get your votes” and don’t follow through on any of their promises, the CR editor-in-chief said, disgusted by the behavior of the Republican establishment.

 
Updated 5-4-17:
Ann Coulter: ‘There’s No Point To Vote For A Republican Again’ ~

“Republicans’ idea is always to surrender this time, in hopes that their gentlemanliness will be rewarded by their mortal enemies next time,” Coulter wrote. “Then, next time comes, and Republicans again surrender in hopes of currying favor with the Democrats and the media for the next time.” […]
 
“We’re not winning. We’re losing, and we’re losing on the central promise of Trump’s campaign,” Coulter wrote. “How would Trump, the businessman, react if an underling charged with developing a new golf course could never break ground?”