All over the Union, people are coming to feel that they have no control over the course of affairs ... ‘ We vote; we are offered the platform we want; we elect the men who stand on that platform; and we get absolutely nothing.’ So they begin to ask: ‘ What is the use of voting? We know that the machines of both parties are subsidized by the same persons, and therefore it is useless to turn in either direction 2.

— Woodrow Wilson