General Discussion

… that American democracy operates similarly to Iranian democracy in the following sense (tl;dr version):

No candidate gets to run for leadership in Iran except those approved by the Ayatollahs. This narrows the frame in which their democratically elected leaders can operate.

Similarly, no one gets to meaningfully run for President in the U.S. except those that get (at least implicit) approval by our capitalist oligarchs. This narrows the frame in which our leaders can operate.

Which has better outcome for the majority of its citizenry?

I’d choose us, but we don’t exist on some shining city on a hill upon which we can look down at the rest of the world, and that includes Iran. There are an awful lot of similarities amongst all of us, I would think, and it’s those similarities that peace can be built upon.