Iranian democracy, U.S. democracy

This is a brief comparison of the structure of the governments of Iran and the United States, in order to better understand Iranian and U.S. democracy.

Head of state:
Iran: President. Elected by popular vote.
United States: President. Elected by a complex formula called "the electoral college" that gives more weight to voters in small states than it gives to voters in large states.
Advantage: Iran.

Means of vetting head of state:
Iran: Candidates for head of state are vetted by the Guardian Council, which has some of the functions of the U.S. Supreme Court and is appointed by the Supreme Leader (half of members) and by the Parliament (other half). Candidates which are not ideologically correct are not allowed to run.
United States: Candidates for head of state are vetted by an unelected elite of media moguls and top businessmen. Candidates who are not ideologically correct, such as Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul, are allowed to run but are deprived of the money, media exposure, and ballot access needed to win. Occasionally the U.S. Supreme Court is called in to decide which candidate is more ideologically correct and shall thus be elected (see: 2000 Presidential election).
Advantage: Tie. With a slight PR advantage to the United States, since at least their means of dealing with ideologically incorrect candidates are not quite so blatantly obvious.

Head of government:
Iran: Supreme Leader. Appointed by the Assembly of Experts, which is elected but you must be an ayatollah to be a member of the Assembly of Experts. Basically a means via which the ayatollahs perpetuate their rule.
United States: President. Elected (albeit not democratically 1-man 1-vote).
Advantage: United States.

Legislature:
Iran: Parliament. Democratically elected. Can have laws overruled by the Guardian Council, which has some of the functions of the U.S. Supreme Court. Candidates for the Parliament are vetted for ideological correctness by the Guardian Council, half of whose members are appointed by Parliament and half of whose members are appointed by the Supreme Leader.
United States: Has two houses in its legislature. House of Representatives: Democratically elected. Can have laws overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is appointed by the President. Candidates are ideologically vetted by an unelected elite of business people and media moguls in the districts from which they are elected, candidates who do not pass ideological muster are deprived of the money, media exposure, and ballot access needed to win. Senate: Undemocratically elected -- voters in small states have their votes count for more than voters in large states. Can have laws overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is appointed by the President. Candidates are ideologically vetted by an unelected elite of business people and media moguls in the states from which they are elected, candidates who do not pass ideological muster are deprived of the money, media exposure, and ballot access needed to win.
Advantage: Tie. The House of Representatives is clearly more democratic than the Iranian Parliament due to the fact that candidates are vetted for ideological correctness at the local level rather than at the national level, but that's offset by the U.S. Senate, which is clearly less democratic than the Iranian Parliament due to the fact that it's not 1 man, 1 vote like the House.

Commander in chief of the armed forces:
Iran: Supreme Leader. He is elected by the Assembly of Experts, not by the people. See above.
United States: President. Elected, albeit not democratically (see above).
Advantage: Unclear. U.S. has invaded dozens of nations, Iraq has never invaded anybody. Does that make the U.S. less, or more, democratic than Iran?

Overall, Iran is surprisingly democratic compared to the United States -- but not quite as democratic as the United States. The ability of the Guardian Council to explicitly disqualify candidates for not being ideologically correct slightly outweighs the ability of the U.S. media and business elite to disqualify candidates for not being ideologically correct because for the House of Representatives in particular, it is local elites, not a national body, doing the disqualification. Both their legislature and their President are elected via one-man one-vote, unlike in the United States where some people are more equal than others (my vote for Senator Feinstein is literally only 1/5th as valuable as my previous vote for Senator Edwards in 1998). It is their unelected Supreme Leader and his control over the Iranian military and broad control over Iranian foreign policy (he has sole power to declare war, for example) who makes Iran explicitly less democratic than the United States in the end -- but not by much. And of course, compared to true democracies where the will of the people is important, like in much of Europe, the United States looks downright horrible on the democracy scale...

-- Badtux the Democracy Penguin