This is GPS, the Global Public Square.

Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world.

I'm Farid Zakaria, coming to you from New York.

Today on the program, a closer look at American democracy.

The second president, John Adams, warned that it never lasts long. And today, many observers

worry about the present and future of American democracy. We will get insights from Walter

Isaacson, who has written a book about the most important sentence in the Declaration of Independence.

From Ken Burns, who has released a magnificent documentary about the American Revolution.

It was fought in hundreds of places, from the forests of Quebec, to the backcountry of Georgia and the Carolinas.

From the rough seas off England, France, and in the Caribbean,

to the towns and orchards of Indian country.

And from Beverly Gage of Yale about the gilded age in America,

when democracy's future was also at risk.

But first, here's my take.

In a conversation with a friend, originally from Pakistan,

I lamented that country's recent decision to give its head of army expanded powers,

including lifetime immunity from legal prosecution.

My friend replied, we're just following in America's footsteps.

Didn't your Supreme Court rule that the president could kill his political opponent

and yet be immune from prosecution?

Welcome to America's new democratic export, the unchecked executive.

If America's founding fathers were to come back and look at their legacy,

...