The third-division USL is struggling to find its identity in the American soccer landscape, and it's baseball's fault.
If you ask the stereotypical promotion/relegation advocate on Twitter about his thoughts on the relationship between MLS and the third-division USL, he'll probably respond with some form of the phrase, "I believe all football soccer clubs in this country deserve a chance to compete at the highest level. I believe a free and open league structure is what the United States needs to be taken seriously as a football soccer nation."
It is clear to me, now, that this is an impossibility.