All of this happens because the American electorate is evenly divided between the two major parties. The difference in winning or losing is the Hispanic vote. The only way this equation will change is if a third party carves out a winning position in the middle class.
The Tea Party tried to do this. Both major parties excoriated the Tea Party over the budget standoff two years ago. As fiscal conservatives, the Tea Party is vulnerable whenever they call for debt reduction, balanced budgets, or any sort of budgetary reform.
Now, even the Republican Party has officially targeted the Tea Party conservatives as the enemy. Speaker Boehner has removed all Tea Party advocates from leadership positions in the House. Large Republican political action groups plan to fund opposition to any and all Tea Party candidates in the next election cycle.
Thus, we have a situation in Washington where the only people who have the courage to stand up for fiscal responsibility are targeted for extinction by both the Republicans and Democrats. In a practical sense, this means much higher taxes on the middle class.
The middle class is targeted for extinction.