Do the US presidential elections matter?

This is a systemic problem and every candidate running for office in Washington is a product of the system.

One way to put this in perspective is think of politics as religion by another name. The religion is statism. Just like you don't get to be a priest until you earn the trust of your peers, you don't get to run for office unless you earn the trust of party members; your supporters think of you as an investment. The higher the office, the more money behind you until you get to the most corrupt office of all: the presidency. Political office attracts defective people.

They are not problem solvers; they are problem makers. They employ a league of intellectuals to search for solutions to non-problems. Every solution creates a worse problem that creates a public demand for another solution. This has been going on since the ink dried on the Constition, and now it's gotten to the point government consumes more wealth than the market economy can support. Even if they destroy the market economy, it is not necessary for the exercise of power.

The only thing that can stop this madness is mass public resistance like we saw when the Soviet Union collapsed. I can't begin to speculate when a critical mass will realize that government is the root cause of their ills. It's a question of when or if the masses will decide they can do without governent money. If history is any guide, it will take a lot of suffering. If there is a ray of hope in this morass, it is the internet and sites like this.

For those with an interest in the nature of the state, I recommend two books:
Our Enemy, the State by Albert Jay Nock
The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek

Unfortunately the basic principles of our, the people's power, over government are completely usurped.   Just watch the HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy".  It is hard to see absolutely undeniable proof on video of the ability to manipulate votes, combined with video documentation of voting process (paper receipts thrown away) illegalities, and a statistically indicative error in election results, and still have faith in your power as a citizen.

 What does it matter if the ultimate person were to appear and challenge the political standard.  They would be harassed, humiliated, ignored, shunned, regardless of the validity of their perspectives and ultimately if popular would magically lose anyway.  I see no way forward that requires anything short of the cooperative effort of the people, in majority and opposing voice, to anything but what they deem is truly best for themselves.  Let us hope and pray that this voice will still be allowed to speak peacefully and productively when the time comes. 

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... And he'd die in a fiery crash on his way to do the very first thing on the list!