Are we better off now?

[jaguar]

There certainly seems to be a massive and noticeable increase in the loss of fair in representative democracy across the western world. People simply expect politicians to lie outright and get away with it and it's become so common they don't really care anymore.

People have always been cynical but there seems to be a concerted thread tat this is a more serious shift attracting some interesting commentary. At the moment I'm living in Switzerland which has a strong participatory democratic system - referendums on average every 2 weeks with an average of around 40% turning out. It also appears to have some of the best quality media in the world. I don't know what makes it so different but it sure is. there was an article in the Economist a week or two ago about Switzerland, noting that there was a strong correlation between people being able to influence the political system and happiness, worth a read.