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Farhad you're wrong as

Farhad you're wrong as usual - Bill Moyers makes a convincing case - and I do have a great deal of respect for the American system as it was originally envisaged, and the principles it endeavors to propound (I have previously praised it on this site, but you make no mention of that, see my article Citizen Obama) - that is exactly why I'm (Gore Vidal, Bill Moyers, Hersh and many others) are mortified by the steady erosion of the Constitution and disdain for rule of law, which as emerged as the norm rather than the exception since Reagan. The exception has become the rule and American democracy as envisioned by the founding fathers is on the rocks...

Ba Arezu-ye Movafaghiat, Sadegh

Anonymous-today, I don’t

Anonymous-today, I don’t think I have it wrong, because it’s clear that sadegh has ideological reasons to bash the U.S, not factual reasons. Although, I agree with most of your points, specially the part about different branches of the government stepping over their boundaries at times, but I don’t think, unfortunately, it’s an unusual phenomenon in any political system. The check and balance system in the U.S and the awareness of its citizens and the country service culture existence in most, not all, of its politicians, will make it hard for any body or individual to make significant changes in government structure.

You have it wrong, Farhad

First, Sadegh is not denying the "greatness" of American democracy. Second, the American system is more than its executive branch. The Constitution is what the American democracy is founded on. There are checks and balances in place to deny dictatorial powers to the executive branch, i.e the president. The point of Moyers' doc is that for 40 years there has been an attempt to transfer powers from the Congress to the president and hence make it an imperial presidency as the Bush II seems to want to be. What the US government decides to reveal to its people is not up to Mr. Bush alone but up to the constitution of the US and the Congress as well. Of course the more power in the hand of the president and its unelected, unacoountable National Security Council, the more he can hide in the name of executive privildege. This being the 4th of July, you should make a point of checking these things up whether or not you're American (I'm not by the way)

sadegh, this government is

sadegh, this government is so secretive that it has the Seymour Hersh and NY Times ad Bill Moyers of the world, reveal every little national secret, unlike any other country in the world; secrets such as wiretapping, U.S operation in Iran…and things like that. Whether you agree with those actions or not,  the fact that the public knows about them, dismisses the fact that its “secretive”. Don’t you think that the very fact that Bill Moyers talking about these issues from information provided by U.S government, contradicts your claim that this is a “secretive” government?  In any other country, all these would be treasonous! This only shows the greatness of U.S democracy and the open system of government they have. Offourrse there are things that they can’t reveal, and that’s totally understandable, but compare to any other government in the world, the U.S system is by far, the most open.

Mehdi jan

Mehdi jan, no worries...we are most definitely on the same page... 

Ba Arezu-ye Movafaghiat, Sadegh

Excellent video Sadegh jan!

Thank you for sharing these thought provoking videos!   

ma hamfekr-im