so is it the system or the people running the system
it is the system being corrupted by those running it, with the blind complicity of the people who cast votes for bread and circuses with no regard for the future.
the 20th century was marked by the creation of a new system of control designed to turn the american people into mindless drones who simply do as they are bid by their masters who "know best"
in the beginning it was the robber barons,, carnegie, rockerfeller, and others who prized wealth above all else, and devised a scheme to manufacture public opinion through control of a few "prominent" newspapers like the new york times, and the chicago tribune. in the end these bloodyhanded fools controlled the 20 most influential newspapers in america with the express purpose of using them to manipulate the opinions of the fools who trusted these newspapers to tell them what was going on in the world. with the assistance of william randolph hearst, their "new money" ally in the newspaper business they created "yellow journalism". they used this new power to inflame the passions of people who should have known better, deceive the masses who's exposure to information came only through their morning newspaper, and created the empire of disinformation we see today in the newspapers TV networks, cable stations, 24 hour news satellite feeds, newswires, and press clubs who simply regurgitate the "news" sent to them by AP, Rueters or the new york times. this has not been accidental nor has it been benign.
the first truely modern war was the spanish american war, which was based solely on the provocation and frothing demands of william randolph hearst and his newspaper empire marching in lockstep with the money trust who needed a war to prove that america was a world power. the explosion of the USS Maine in havana harbour was not caused by spanish saboteurs, it was an accident common to old coal burning steamships. hearst and the money trust seized this chance to start their war using the asinine monroe doctrine, and the manufactured outrage of the sinking of the maine to whip the hoi poloi into a screaming horde who demanded vengeance. this is not supposition or hypothesis,, this is historical fact easily verified by a little reading of the scholarly work done in the last 100 years on the subject. even theodoree roosevelt was swept up in the desire to prosecute this "glorious little war", and he later determined to stamp out the money trust for their perfidity. sadly he failed, but he got close enough that they hired an assassin to shoot him.
after their fun little romp was won in cuba, the money trust and their newspaper servants went into action to create popular support for the federal reserve act,, which they crafted in secret solely for the purpose of preventing the dethronement they nearly suffered at the hands of roosevelt. they created the federal reserve act with the help of euroipe's two largest banking cartels, the warburgs of germany and the rothschilds of england france and switzerland (you should read up on the rothschild banking dynasty, it is a fascinating subject). the new banking cartel which they have for over 100 years tried to portray as just a bank run by the congress (lies) now controls our new fiat currency, and thus they control their puppets in congress who recognize that eliminating this monstrosity would cause considerable short term pain in the economy, but anyone who knows anything about the politics of the last 120 years will recognize that any disrupotiojn (even short term) is the last thing the economy will allow. even less likely would be the controllers of our economic house of cards allowing the short term pain associated with the dismantling of their primary source of economic and financial control.
this is the root of the problems we face now, our constitutional republic has been hijacked by a few dominant men and we have blindly stood by and allowed this to happen, and in fact it continues to occur with every megamerger,, corporate bailout and sweetheart deal for the banks who now rule our nation with their velvet wrapped fist.