Fewer Japanese believe their society is rooted in democracy compared with 10 years ago, a survey by The Asahi Shimbun shows.

  • BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    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

    • something_random_tho@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      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.

      • taiyang@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        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.)

        • something_random_tho@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          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.

  • wewbull@feddit.uk
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    8 months ago

    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.