Bill Moyers Special: The Secret Government (1987)

It's an in-depth look at government actions, mostly military ones, that occur in the absence of (1) public knowledge and (2) official (publicly available) government documents and records. Iran-Contra, a lil' bit of Vietnam, Watergate (I never knew that Liddy and company were referred to as "the plumbers"), the overthrow of Allende in Chile, and some others. IMO, it's well worth watching, but if you don't have 90 minutes to spare, I certainly understand.
 
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]10 Reasons Bill Moyers Should Be President[/FONT]
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1. Mr. Moyers has a genuine, civil, positive, hopeful courage of conviction that we the people can and will serve our own common good if we are properly informed and use the tools of our great democracy wisely. His passion for our country is rooted in a deep understanding, respect for, and unswerving adherence to the bedrock values and principles our Founding Fathers left us for us to preserve.

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2. Mr. Moyers has a profound vision about how the United States of America can be unified again by the fullest exercise of self-government by we the people around our basic commitments to simple, commonly accepted all-American values and policies such as equality of opportunity and caring for your neighbor and telling the truth.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]3. Mr. Moyers is a fearless advocate. He is unafraid to say that many politicians are simply the shills of selfish, greedy corporate interests; that false prophets are heretics; and that powerful media and lobby groups are peddling corruption.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]4. Mr. Moyers espouses and upholds very high standards of professional ethics and personal integrity.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]5. Mr. Moyers brings significant hands-on White House experience to bear on his thinking about America's future.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]6. Mr. Moyers lifetime of public service as an honest political journalist has earned him national esteem and the respect of millions of people.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]7. Mr. Moyers talks openly and comfortably about the role spiritual values play in his progressive outlook without abusing or disrespecting the line that is supposed to separate religious belief and political thought in America.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]8. He is an exceptionally smart person. He has a truly impressive command of the facts underlying the fundamental connection that exists between progressive policies and electoral results. Further, he has demonstrated a unique ability to think ahead of the curve and craft and manage creative, state-of-the-art, successful enterprises, including ones that involve media planning.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]9. He is a mesmerizing public speaker and a superb debater.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]10. Mr. Moyers understands expressed the view that the perfection of our union will require new and perhaps unprecedented sacrifices by all of us. He would be a captain who bravely acknowledges the turbulent waters roiling all about and inspires us to do the right things needed to safely sail through them.[/FONT]
 
[quote name='mykevermin']It's an in-depth look at government actions, mostly military ones, that occur in the absence of (1) public knowledge and (2) official (publicly available) government documents and records. Iran-Contra, a lil' bit of Vietnam, Watergate (I never knew that Liddy and company were referred to as "the plumbers"), the overthrow of Allende in Chile, and some others. IMO, it's well worth watching, but if you don't have 90 minutes to spare, I certainly understand.[/QUOTE]

Good stuff, Myke. I've always been fascinated by this particular aspect of American history (and how people never fail to persuade themselves that events of that nature don't happen anymore ... even after they do, again and again). I sometimes think that if I could push for any single constitutional amendment, it would be sort of like FOIA, but writ large. Democracy simply can't work if the people don't even know what their government is doing.

Makes an interesting counter-point to the State of the Union, at least.
 
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