hey Steven...you might love this.

Media...and democracy....

Check this mate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6hH3roMe4w&feature=related

(Edward Bernays on Letterman.)

Very short..but ohhhhhh so very true.

also.. another of your ethnic compatriots.. you might like to research "Jared Cohen" and "Alliance of Youth Movements" re Egypt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Cohen

Individual,

As Steven says, there is probably no such thing as a perfect democracy and never will be: after all, they are moving and changing all the time, and more to the point, they are us, with all of OUR foibles and contending preferences.

At least in democracies, we don't have to celebrate the birthdays of the Dear Leader, or wave flags to celebrate 52 years of rule by one man or one family. In democracies, people are not necessarily jailed for asking for freedom of expression. They are not forced to work in lucrative projects controlled by the army, as in the Zimbabwean diamond fields.

As Churchill said, .......

Joe