Darth_Reagan [they/them, comrade/them]

The media is also controlled by those same donors. The people believe what they’re told to believe, and then given candidates that only align with what they’re told to believe. Anyone outside of the norm for the parties and donor’s ideology is systematically portrayed as unserious and delusional. It is not in the interest of a party to win with a candidate that disagrees with their core beliefs. Which is why establishment democrats prefer to lose when the party is forced to run a leftist. You can see exactly this phenomenon in the NYC mayoral race.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model

People don’t vote for policies in a western democratic republic, they vote for candidates that are pre-approved by parties and donors.