I've just read the victory speech of future US president, Mr. Obama.
I do agree that his victory is a symbol of a better society that has less discrimination against black people than before.
It was my first time to read through a whole speech of the US president.
The speech was indeed impressive, (maybe as much as speeches by other presidents)
but, thus, it’s threatening because what impresses people can easily deceive them. We always have to question and check what the real purpose of using the rhetoric is and think as many effects as possible, regardless whether they are projected effects or side effects, which will be caused by the policy or actions especially when we are impressed and touched by the statement.

He used many episodes and rhetoric to make people believe in what the US does is always right. Some of the facts that he referred to show the excellence of the US history were actually quite controversial, for example, implication of WWII as I will state at the end of this article.

It’s a crisis of true democracy and politics when people blindly believe in their leader and stop criticizing their government although it’s necessary to make people trust in their leader to keep political stability. Individuals have to actively think what the actual benefits and expenses of policies are without becoming too emotional to practice politics truly for the people in the society.

I think the negative side effect of touching political speech becomes robust when there is a strong power of the mass. In a “democratic” nation, like the US, politicians tend to tell people what majority of the people like to hear, and the people tend to elect politicians who say the most moving things to them. The true benefits and risks of the policies can be hidden behind the touching rhetoric. Therefore once great majority of the people start to commit to only one viewpoint, it becomes hard for the whole society to see the other side of the issues because neither politicians nor media want to clearly state the opposite viewpoint since they need support of the mass. This inter-dependency between what people think and what politicians and mass media say makes people believe that they are surely participating in the politics in a democratic way. However, how can individuals construct their meaningful political position based on their true benefits and costs without being informed the true purpose and effect of the policy, which are often hidden behind the touching rhetoric?

The overwhelming victory of one-sided viewpoint can be strengthened by education, impressive speech by politicians and information from mass media. These are normally considered as tools of totalitarianism. However they can more sophisticatedly function in negative way in democratic countries than in communist countries because the nations believe that they have freedom in a democratic country even if they are actually controlled by selected information.

On the other hand, the three factors also enable people to actively think and beneficially participate in politics. Prof. Bernard Crick wrote, education could be a threat to true politics, or it encourages creation of civilians who can act independently to generate true politics.

I felt like writing about this because I’m recently studying the influence of Japanese national reform after WWII, which was led by the US. Mr. Obama mentioned it as elimination of tyranny and victory (prevalence) of (excellent) democracy.

However, so far as I studied, Japanese pre-war social and political system had its own rationality which didn’t necessarily harm people’s lives, (Of course I don’t deny that some of the aspects of it were really inhuman.) and post-war social and political system has enormous problems too. Thus, we can’t really conclude which system is absolutely better. What we can say is just, based on a certain sense of values and measures, which one is better in a certain sense. “Democratic system” can function against democracy as I stated above. Many Japanese traditional values are disappearing to adjust everything to the new environment, which was first built by the US. We might be able to consider that they are disappearing because they are no longer important to the people. But what if the process is controlled for someone’s own sake?

I want to reveal at least the true purposes of some policies and hopefully their effects
so that we, not only Japanese, but also other residents on earth, can achieve autonomy.

なんか、中高生の優等生ちっくなスピーチコンテストの原稿みたいになってしまった…。私は、かなりクリック教授（イギリスの政治学者）の意見に影響されてる。人が言ったことに簡単に影響されちゃうのは私の悪いとこじゃないかな。こういう人間が民主主義の罠にはまるのかね。

とにかく、何かに、特に政治家や運動家の言動に心動かされた時は、冷静にその政策や運動の目的と効果を見極めるスキルを身に付けないといけないということだと思います。国民のみんながこれをちゃんとやらないときちんと機能しないなんて、アメリカや日本の「民主主義に基づく」制度の運用は大変だなあと思います。
結局、さぼるといいものはできないってことでしょうかね。
真面目に日本政治のこと勉強してちゃんと投票に行ける準備をしようかな。
こないだ、衆議院と参議院の正しい定義を忘れてて、ちょっと愕然とした。
私の脳みそももう若くないのかしらん。

あーあー、最近時差ボケなので、（遅く寝て昼ごろ起きる）早く直さないと！脳みそ若返りのためにも…