Party legitimacy and political stagnation

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-michael/these-parties-are-lame_b_3817973.html

Legitimacy is a powerful concept in politics. It does more than simply conferring authority: it confers support. When I look at the two main parties and the persistently dominant presence they maintain on our political stage, and wonder how they maintain their status despite their just as persistently disappointing performance, I am forced to reach a similar conclusion to Mister Michael.

People don’t care enough to challenge the status quo, and those who do care enough often get caught in the partisan furor and become champions of that same state of affairs. The few who do support a genuine change find themselves derided as political hipsters at best, and vote-splitting traitors at worst.