"The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries."*

We now know that the NSA has conducted mass surveillance on Verizon (and in all likelihood other telecommunication outlets) customers. This blanket spying was done indiscriminately, on American citizens. Certain politicians say it's great that this is happening, that they'll gladly be spied upon. Is this liberty? Does President Obama know the meaning of civil rights? Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

Fault Lines travels to the Republican and Democratic Conventions and asks what the spectacle is worth.

The United States is in the midst of its most expensive election season ever.

It is not what Washington pundits mean when they say that this year's presidential race will be won or lost on the economy.

Nonetheless, almost $6bn will be spent trying to get Republican and Democratic candidates into office.

Virtually unlimited cash can buy many things - hundreds of hours of television advertising, automated phone calls, a really big party. But who is paying? And what is the price exacted of the country's democracy?

There are three months left until voting day.

And Sebastian Walker and the Fault Lines team travel from the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, to examine the spectacle being broadcast on US screens.

So what its worth for those who find themselves outside the political arena?