Participatory democracy

More lessons in democracy from our neighbors to the South. From Al Giordano's pages:

He asked me if I knew the difference between representative democracy and participatory democracy. I didn’t. Democracy was democracy. Since I was old enough to vote my parents insisted that I vote in every election which meant that every two years I could help elect our U.S. representative, every four years our president and every six years another senator. Federal judges were beyond my control.

...That, said the security guard, is “representative democracy.” “What we have in Venezuela is ‘participatory democracy,’ and went on to clarify the matter. I was impressed with his explanation and he taught me something about democracy that my parents and teachers had not.

...[P]articipatory democracy is more than just referendums. It means that citizens have the right to hold their elected officials accountable throughout their tenure and also an obligation to be involved in the governing process.

Al ends this article on Venezuela's current situation with the following admonition:

Whether Chavez does or does not remain in office, the saddest part of all this is the time, energy and income the country has lost because of the attempt of the elite to sabotage the efforts of the government for the past four years. It also provides a warning to the world of the extent to which some wealthy and powerful will go in order to retain their control.

For more articles on the current situation in Venezuela, click here.

Meanwhile, things are going just great, aren't they?

Need proof? This photo of Japanese PM and Blunder Boy ought to blast away your doubts.

And just witness the great time they're having....

As the Bushes and Koizumi emerged for a picture-taking session, Bush proclaimed the Japanese leader "a good friend, a very strong leader" and the meal that his host provided — which ranged from pork and soybean paste as one of the many appetizers to an array of first course dishes to pickles on the main course menu — "great."

"The relationship between Japan and the United States is very good," Bush said.

Koizumi, speaking in English, likewise provided pleasantries, calling the talks "very frank, meaningful, interesting, fantastic."

As to the dinner, he jokingly referred to Bush as "beef man" — a moniker the former Texas governor repeated, laughing.

Yuk it up while you can, beef man.

You have to wonder what sly joke that might be to the Japanese.

On August 29, Randolph Sill headed to a Mariners game with a homemade sign decked out with slogans written in Japanese kanji, along with the number of Sill's favorite player, Ichiro Suzuki. Whenever Ichiro came up to bat, Sill would hold his sign high. Sill, who's spent time in Japan, knows Japanese television regularly broadcasts Mariners games and spotlights signs for its native son Ichiro.

Here's what Sill's sign said: On one side, the kanji read, "President Bush is a monkey's butt." On the other: "Americans are ashamed of our corrupt president." Sill, who hoped his sign would be broadcast on TV here and in Japan, says many Japanese fans at Safeco Field smiled and winked when they read his sign. article

I'm going back to my moratorium on Boy Blunder's photo ops.

....but you do what you want....you will anyway.