Some thoughts: I will certainly agree that our cultural pursuits have fallen very far to the wayside. Instant gratification, consumerism, self-indulgence, and so forth, but how do you steer a culture back towards a healthy heading? It's almost impossible, and the people seeing any success with their attempts do not have the greater good in mind... hence contributing further to the woeful state of the culture. What is this optimized "balance"? When pursuant of a definition of any depth, at any scale, no one's suggestions are realized as the objective, perfect truth. We all have our own ideas. I would imagine yours as in line with Buddhism's tenants, an idealist view. Mine certainly isn't too far off, but idealism has been historically difficult to implement successfully, especially on a large, political scale. Human nature sucks. :( At this point, I don't think anyone will argue that Wall Street isn't to blame captaining this country straight into the ground. It's exactly how they're doing it, and the approaches to curbing their influence that no one can seem to concur on. I share your fear of America's thirst for a powerful figurehead, but things have gotten so polarized between our only two political parties that there doesn't seem to be room for one man to head America without half of the nation despising him "on principle". It will be an interesting next couple of decades. Obama was one of the biggest letdowns of my young political consciousness, and has contributed to my voter registration cards' (yes, all of them) re-appropriation as toilet paper. Moyer's perspective is at least one degree of complexity above the typical drivel that we're usually bombarded with, but as you mention, it is just that - a perspective. Digging to get to the good stuff isn't exactly google-able. If you have any content that you think provides a rebuttal, or even just a contrasting stance to Moyer's, I would gladly read through it and post some thoughts. Thank you for your input. :)
I guess my feelings are that with the current bipartisan gridlock persisting, eventually the greater population will get so fed up to the point where they are through with bipartisan politics, and someone will be in the position to capitalize on that.
Hopefully any push for a new structure can be channeled into a new system, and not just one person, because yes, I see cause for concern there as well. Like I mentioned, the cultural trend of craving instant gratification isn't going to help us here. It would behoove the U.S. to take its time to step back and really evaluate what's happened, and where we should go from here. Dream on, right? Though our current hierarchy favors the presidency & executive branch, especially with the legislation passed in the post-9/11 era, I have my fingers crossed that some powers will be repealed soon. Perhaps most importantly, the decision whether or not to wage war should not be subject to the whims of any one man. Anyway, cheers, Sir Dude, at least we've got each other, heh!