While the system is definitely rigged at this point, it's still valuable to run real candidates. Every time they rig an election the people see it and eventually it will sink in for even the densest of npcs. The day of the great shrug approaches. Once the mass of the people view the government as corrupt, the less likely they will obey all the various rules, the more expensive in financial and political terms enforcement becomes, leading to even more people ignoring the system. It becomes a self-reinforcing cycle. Once enough people stop caring what the government thinks freedom will naturally emerge.