[sd-joe]

I think that you are drawing a very fine distinction (fine in the sense of narrow).

We can go round and round on who is responsible in ANY group. Is it the leaders who are pulling the group in a given direction, or is it the members who are supporting the leaders that make it possible.

When we get to the point where they are killing us, it really doesn't matter any more. The only workable response is to overcome the group, leaders and members, with massive force. When they give up and stop killing us, we can work out putting it back together again.

[bonesmccoy]

I would add that civilian populations in totalitarian regimes do not possess the strength to alter national policy.

Clearly, Imperialist Japan was in just that type of position. The Japanese Imperial military was acting in the name of the crown, but the commoners had little impact on the national policies.

For this reason when Mac wrote the new Japanese constitution, voting was a part of the process.

Until the US altered the internal governmental process in Japan, there was no ability by Japanese people to impact their governmental politics/policies.