Politics and Will Rodgers

This week we talked about values and politics. It all started with the question from the Japan Times, " If you could change one thing about Japan, what would it be?" A student commented that she would change Japanese politics. Because of the hereditary nature of Diet seats, it seems the same attitudes and roadblocks continue to cripple decision making in government. Many students lamented that Japan has no Obama, young people just are too caught up in their own little worlds to care about getting involved in social issues. Is this true? Are young people today so different from the past? Will Rodgers, the American cowboy philosopher once joked "Things 'ain't like they used to be, but I guess they never were".