"i'm sure john nichols and robert mcchesney are correct about the threat to democracy posed by money. but i've grown weary and apathetic reading about the powerful rich and how they are buying america. most americans like me feel more and more helpless in the face of puppied -- moneyed power. tell us how to fight for democracy and don't say, go out and vote. we do that. until you can give me a solution, no more articles on democracy sliding into decay. and her name is virginia s. anderson from ellijay, georgia. >> bob and i are probably as big a pair of optimists as you'll ever meet. and the fact is that we have a great belief in what political theorists and political scientists refer to as critical junctures, points in history where things get to a level where something has to happen. that is the american story. it is not true that the arc of history bends steadily toward justice. the arc of history kind of bends, it gets broken, it bends again. we repair it. but when you reach a real critical juncture, when things get really serious, all of american history tells us that americans a