Fewer Japanese believe their society is rooted in democracy compared with 10 years ago, a survey by The Asahi Shimbun shows.
The Japanese government is very static. Since 1955 the LDP has ruled almost continually (Lost 1 out of 23 elections) and has very rarely even lost it’s overall majority.
At the last election there was a big movement for change, and even then the LDP still won, although without a majority. It’s not surprising that people would feel disillusioned with democracy.
Has actual democracy ever been implemented anywhere, seems to me, every democratic country is run by a group of rich people, with a nominally elected puppet politicians, to make the ordinary citizens think they have a say in things
Athens had sortition, which was interesting. Everyone participated in the government via a lottery and the average person’s issues would be likely (statistically speaking) to be focused on and addressed.
We still use it today to select jurors. But it was originally for everything. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition
It’s been tried a few other times much later in history, but they always limited who could be chosen in the lottery (generally, only rich people). The original system which worked well selected among everyone.
Well, everyone who wasn’t a slave, or foreign, or a woman,or… etc.
That sounds like a fun time. In modern day though I’d hope the selected representatives would have professional aides, especially where I am given your average American is practically illiterate. (It’d probably work better in Japan, lol.)
Ya, they absolutely could/should. A good example today is how a judge is present in a trial to explain the process, law, what’s required for jurors. You could have a similar advisory body which provides recommendations based on their expertise.
There are definitely countries who have done a better job, but remember that the right-wing is always authoritarian and is constantly trying to throw a wrench in democracy. Some countries are able to patch those holes fast, but when the country is very large, in the case of the USA, there are tiny holes popping up all over the place. Eventually it starts to sink and we can’t even tell how.
Left wing governments can be authoritarian too. It’s a concept that spans the left-right divide. You can be a authoritarian centrist if you’re prepared to enforce adherence to your values. It’s just that you probably don’t need to be.
In my option it’s the extremes that need to be authoritarian because nobody would put up with their shit unless they were forced to.
What do you consider a left wing extreme that you wouldn’t put up with?
Can you name these countries. I wanna check if they are open to immigration
- Norway
- Sweden
- Finland
- New Zealand
- Denmark
- Switzerland
- Canada
- Ireland
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Australia
- Iceland
Although, do pay attention to neighboring countries.
I’d love to see the numbers for western nations.
