Americans complain about the lack of true leaders and of today's poll-driven politicians. But if American is a democracy, isn't that exactly how it is supposed to work?

George W Bush, lambasted as the destroyer of peace in the Middle East, may preside over the most welcome development there since the Second World War.

The Vice President will be leaving a slimy, black legacy.

With fifty states in the union, we have fifty different laboratories in which to test different approaches to a problem.

Don't regulate campaign finance; just require disclosure.

Can we have a little dignity please?

By taking this preposterous action, the CIA has provided a signal service.

Not only don't we need one, we're better off without one.

Unlimited money, unlimited visibility, unlimited clout - what could possibly go wrong?

Somehow, we have reached the point where we view democracy and elections as ends in themselves. But they aren't.