The election for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been announced, and the debate is being fought every day. The debate on a wide range of policies is really fresh, and this has led to the awareness of a number of issues.
Candidate Kono proposes the high burden, high welfare route while calling it a pension problem. The other candidate complains that the current pension reform is unrealistic because it was discussed in the past and requires a large tax increase.
The other candidate, Kishida, emphasizes the need for nuclear power in order to strike a realistic balance in the basic energy policy, Takaichi mentions the need to invest in the development of new technologies, and Kono calls for a nuclear power-free policy with renewable energy as the mainstream.
On the issue of national defense, candidates Takaichi and Kishida emphasize the need to neutralize enemy bases, while Kono ridicules the “Showa era concept. Kono, who ridicules the idea of “Showa era” (1926-1989).
Candidate Noda appeals for diversity and an end to discrimination against the vulnerable.
and so on, calling for the understanding of many citizens and raising issues while encouraging each citizen to think. What one notices is the breadth of the discussion.
Candidate Kono’s extremely liberal policy thinking, and his liberal emphasis on human rights and discrimination issues, is candidate Noda. Kishida, who was thought to be a conservative candidate, also emphasizes a stance that is close to the voice of the people, and can be described as a center-leftist. Takaichi, who was once derided as a right-winger and a hawk, has a wide range of policy ideas, from conservative and center-right to liberal policy proposals.
The debate on the presidential election should be fought in the Diet
Normally, this debate and discussion should take place in the regular Diet session, but the current Diet session is full of foot-dragging, labeling, slander, and scandal-mongering, with no real policy debate taking place. The opposition may deny it and claim that they are not only criticizing but also proposing countermeasures, but the fact is that the public is not getting the message. Recently, the opposition parties have been even more extreme with their double standards, criticism for the sake of criticism, and repetition of incoherent illogic, making me feel that as long as these people continue to sit in the Diet, there will be no serious debate in the Diet.
However, the election for the LDP presidency is not open to the general public. At the same time, as we have already seen in the current controversy, a procedure is in place to modify the direction of the candidates by taking the best parts of their policies, etc. However, this still does not directly reflect the will of the people.
This structure is actually similar to that of the medium-term electoral district system under the LDP’s 55-year regime. Although the will of the people did not lead to a change of government, there was a way to demonstrate the people’s demand for a course correction. However, with the introduction of the constituency system, we are now in a situation where a change of government can actually occur through voting behavior. If this happens, the method of reflecting the will of the people, which calls for a revision of the direction but not a change of government but a shift in policy, has been lost.
The Liberal Democratic Party’s increasingly liberal color may have been broadened as a receptacle in this constituency system to avoid the risk of a temporary boom in regime change that the people do not want. The point is that the current opposition parties are incapable of serious debate and are too arrogant to be trusted with power because they criticize others and consider themselves to be absolutely righteous.
The only way out of this situation is for the Japan Restoration Association to shed its local party color and become a national power. Or, perhaps, the National Democratic Party of Japan (NDP) should not waver, but pursue its path as a healthy opposition party and gain power. In that case, liberal legislators such as Kono, the current LDP candidate, should probably go out and fight.
However, to tell the truth, I can only imagine that the same thing will happen again and again. If this is the case, the best and biggest way for Japan to protect its democracy may be to return to the middle electoral district system.
Mass Production of the Informationally Weak through Biased Reporting
The next issue I would like to point out is the attitude of the mass media.
Prior to the announcement of the election, information about who would be running for office, etc., was disseminated by both the mass media and the Internet space, but the content was completely different. As it turned out, the correct information was on the Internet side, while the mass media’s information could be said to be false. The subsequent reporting attitude of the mass media has also been extremely biased, to the point of being intentional.
A typical example is the Japan Press Club’s debate between the candidates, where the time for questions was unevenly distributed, and the fact that a confirmation was made in a whisper asking if it was okay to ask the four candidates about it revealed that the time allocation was intentionally manipulated. Of course, they won’t admit it, but the result is all about time. In the approval rating survey, the numbers were so different that it was easy to see how much deliberate misdirection was involved.
If you are a person who is always greedy for information and uses every possible means to obtain information on your own, you may be able to obtain more accurate information, but at present, most people are not exposed to any information other than that provided by the mass media. On the contrary, the mass media has the responsibility to convey fair information to many people, and although the terrestrial media is regulated by the Broadcasting Act, the reality is that it is not being followed at all.
Biased information, or so-called fake news, is worse in the mass media than in the Internet.
People call information on the Internet “fake” and warn people not to be fooled. This itself is fake news. There is no doubt that the information on the Internet is mixed up, that is, there are lies mixed in. However, if you use your own information skills, you can get a wide range of good quality information. The only way to get correct information is through the Internet, and it is very convenient.
One of the reporting methods of the mass media is to obtain special news through interviews with the people involved and report leaks. In the past, even if they got a special story, they would back it up to make sure it was correct, but I think they rarely do that these days. If a special story fits the direction they want to report, they will send it out unconditionally, creating fake news.
In the end, they turn a blind eye to information that doesn’t seem to conform to their direction of thinking and don’t listen to those who seem to be telling inconvenient stories.
As a former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Takaichi has announced his intention to reform NHK, and we are now in a world where it is necessary for him to work on the radio law system or to promote strict enforcement of the law.
The resistance of vested interests will probably become tougher, and biased reporting will be heavily criticized, but we should remember the fact that this kind of incendiary criticism has never been realized. Have we seen the realization of the ridicule of the Security Act as a war bill, the drafting of young people, etc.? The reality is that the rescue of a local company in Afghanistan was a failure. One of the reasons for this is that our intelligence activities are still inadequate and not in line with those of developed countries, but this is also due to a misunderstanding of the secrecy laws and a compromise that does not go far enough.
Those who get their information only from the mass media should be careful. They should try to get as much information as possible from the Internet.
Those who have always been able to obtain information on the Internet should be exposed to a wider range of information, even information that goes against their own ideological beliefs. In addition, exposure to the printed word can provide in-depth information that is not cut-and-dried. The danger is that we are in an echo chamber, so it is important that we are exposed to a wide variety of information and think for ourselves.
Many people are calling for direct elections, such as the election of a prime minister, but this would be dangerous under the current circumstances. The idea of a one-to-one ratio of party members to friends in a runoff election for the presidency is similar to this, and would increase the risk of choosing the wrong path. A nation’s prime minister should be chosen not on the basis of popularity, but on the basis of the direction of the policies he or she sets and the balance between the executive ability of the individual to implement them and the organizational driving force of his or her leadership. A single person can do only a limited number of things, but if he or she has leadership, the organization can solve difficult problems and flexibly adapt its policies to actual conditions.
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