[Source.](https://thenewamerican.com/opinion/the-political-matrix-sustains-the-illusion-of-freedom/) > What you smell is the stench of a dying republic. > Our dying republic. > We are trapped in a political matrix intended to sustain the illusion that we are citizens of a constitutional republic. > In reality, we are caught somewhere between a kleptocracy (a government ruled by thieves) and a kakistocracy (a government run by unprincipled career politicians, corporations and thieves that panders to the worst vices in our nature and has little regard for the rights of American citizens).