Moyers: 'Democracy in America Is a Series of Narrow Escapes, and We May Be Running Out of Luck'
For all of America's shortcomings, we keep telling ourselves, "The system works." Now all bets are off.
The following is an excerpt from Bill Moyers' new book, "Moyers on Democracy" (Doubleday, 2008).
Democracy in America is a series of narrow escapes, and we may be running out of luck. The reigning presumption about the American experience, as the historian Lawrence Goodwyn has written, is grounded in the idea of progress, the conviction that the present is "better" than the past and the future will bring even more improvement. For all of its shortcomings, we keep telling ourselves, "The system works."
Now all bets are off. We have fallen under the spell of money, faction, and fear, and the great American experience in creating a different future together has been subjugated to individual cunning in the pursuit of wealth and power
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