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In Iran, any candidate for government must be okay'ed by the ruling religious council. This lets them take out anybody they don't like.

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This is exactly what happens in the US, just replace religious council with big business and the ruling class, which owns the corporate media.

If big business does not like someone, they have no chance.

Just look at Howard Dean. You all have a prejudiced oppinion of him because of all the negative corporate media attention. If you actually look at the facts, youd see that he is on your side.