In an interview with Countdown host Keith Olbermann on Tuesday, former vice president and Current TV founder Al Gore said the United States needed an “American spring” like the Arab spring in the Middle East and Northern Africa.

“We need to have an American spring,” he said. “Non-violent change, where people from the grassroots get involved again. Not in the tea party style. There are people who are genuinely upset in the tea party, I understand that, but that movement was funded with seed money from right-wing billionaires, the Koch brothers, and promoted on Fox News and turned into a stalking horse for this right-wing agenda that a lot of people have been trying to push on this country for a long time.”

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“This country is in trouble,” Gore added. “Our democracy has been withering on the vine. This has been going on for some time.”

Monday on Countdown, Gore called the U.S. system of government “broken” and “in real trouble.”

Watch video, courtesy of Current TV, below:

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Part 2:

