Source https://lemmy.zip/post/72029200/29026430

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  • Communist
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    1 day ago

    even overwhelmingly large pro-change majorities, with 80 percent of the public favoring a policy change, got that change only about 43 percent of the time.

    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

    this is the case in america, I don’t know of a similar study done by taiwan, but it’s likely the case there as well.

    It’s clear that the peoples vote hardly matters.

      • Communist
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        14 hours ago

        That’s a strawman. It still got that change 43% of the time, and I vote every election!

        This is also you not engaging with their arguments. Nobody says don’t vote, they say voting is comparatively pointless next to organization. The study basically proves that if you want change the most meaningful thing you can do is organize and strike, no?

        Nobody is saying don’t vote, they’re saying don’t use voting as a way of saying you don’t have to organize and strike. It won’t on its own produce meaningful change.

        • LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world
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          12 hours ago

          Ok sure I agree with all that. So what is it that’s so bad about western democracies again? The combination of democracy and the ability to strike, organize and protest are why western democracies have more civil liberties than anywhere else in the world. Working conditions in, for example, China are markedly worse and the right to protest is nonexistent.

          • Communist
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            11 hours ago

            you’re dodging the study that was posted. the one that clearly indicates that isn’t happening in western “democracy”

            the only reason they ever let you is because they’re in power, but it’ll be quite difficult to explain away making antifa a terrorist organization, for example.

            You’d need to compare and contrast which specific rights and civil liberties you’re talking about to say which one has more or less, I could point to at will employment and say the US is obviously worse, there’s also the fact that the US breaks unions and strikes all the time too.

            china has freedom of speech written into its constitution too, it ultimately doesn’t matter if these rights are ignored, as they are in both places.

            • LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world
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              11 hours ago

              Im not dodging anything, I accept the results of the study, but i dont think its useful for comparison to a non-democracy.

              Im not sure what you mean by at-will employment, as it relates to civil liberties?

              There are certainly some aspects of Chinese society that are freer than in America, but i think its a false equivalency to say “both sides bad”. Look at any rankings and you’ll see that.

              https://freedomhouse.org/country/scores

              You might say, well those rankings are biased, but if you look at what i would say are the core civil liberties:

              -freedom of speech/expression
              -freedom of religion
              -protection from discrimination
              -right to representation

              There really isn’t any comparison. And that doesnt even get into the right to bear arms/the right to form a well-regulated militia. You think the US government is too hard on antifa? Try that shit in China haha

              • Communist
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                11 hours ago

                Im not dodging anything, I accept the results of the study, but i dont think its useful for comparison to a non-democracy.

                just to be clear here, before I respond, can you state how you think voting works in china, and why it isn’t a democracy?

                “Freedom House was founded in October 1941, with Wendell Willkie and Eleanor Roosevelt serving as its first honorary chairpersons. Most of the organization’s funding comes from the U.S. State Department”

                uhhh

                -freedom of speech/expression

                bad in both places, both have it enshrined in their constitution

                -freedom of religion

                we’d need to talk about specific points, but yes the US is better, but i’m kinda thinking the US’s stance is backfiring hard on this one, religion is pretty evil.

                -protection from discrimination

                the US is so obviously worse that this isn’t worth a discussion? native americans? reparations? all the genocides and human experimentation? every single foreign country they have invaded and “freed”

                -right to representation

                seems about even to me? awful in both places, the study I gave touched on this, what good is representation if it accomplishes nothing?

                https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/pp/52/3/article-p360.xml?rskey=wMjlkC&result=26#d1190470e2128

                Conclusion

                In this article, we investigate whether Chinese local governments are responsive to public opinion on environmental protection issues and how the involvement of various response agencies enables the policy responsiveness. Using dynamic panel analysis, we observe a weak but statistically significant policy responsiveness in Chinese local governments, measured by the extent to which online public opinion has an impact on the fiscal expenditure. We also find that this impact is significantly enhanced by the involvement of response agencies with high levels of political authority and interest homogeneity with the public. More empirical studies are needed to better understand the administrative organisations of policy responsiveness, not only within China but also as comparative studies of countries with different political systems.

                slightly better in china, it seems, since there is SOME correlation.

                  • Communist
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                    11 hours ago

                    I don’t think either are, but any definition that includes the US that is reasonable will likely include china.

                    if you don’t want to have a dialog with people you disagree with and just close your ears what good will that accomplish?

                    if you’re not even willing to engage with that question how can you be certain it’s correct? why don’t you just have a throwaway copy-paste ready to fight against it? would be more fruitful if you actually care about dismantling that idea? what you did right now won’t convince anyone.

    • -☆-@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 day ago

      You’re doing good work out here comrade. Just wanted to say I appreciate your methods of getting folks to think critically 🫡