Bread and circusses? Do our political parties even matter anymore?

At one point or another pretty much all of us have watched pro wrestling. I haven't since I was a kid, but this is what our elections most remind me of.
Just as gaudy, just as stupid, and more likely than not just as fake ?
When was the last time any of us really believed that we were voting for anything but the lesser of two evils?
Not in my life time, not for me at least. And yet there seems a great deal of collusion between the two.
And despite public animosity a great deal of common interests.
Have our political parties abandoned us?
Did they ever really represent us in the first place?
Or is it all just spectacle and misdirection ?
As most of the nation falls into near third world status, the rich get richer and the middle get poorer, can we really believe that our parties have been or ever will be of any true value?
Is it all just smoke and mirrors?
And if it is can we do anything about it?
Just some thoughts,
David