Heaps of discarded 'History of the LDP' book is symptom of LDP demise

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Heaps of discarded 'History of the LDP' book is symptom of LDP demise

Former LDP House of Representatives who failed in the general election should move out of their offices in the Lower House Members' Hall. There were dumped heaps of the History of the Liberal Democratic Party book (retailing at 80,000 yen) in the corridors outside the rooms of the outgoing LDP parliamentarians who were busy preparing to move out.

A secretary to an ex-LDP Dietmember said, "Is any ordinary citizen willing to buy one at 80,000 yen? The books were most often sold to large corporations looking for political favors".

The Liberal Democratic Party was founded in 1955 following an amalgamation of conservative parties. To cover up its political goals of anti-communism and adversely changing Article 9 of the Constitution, the LDP pretended itself as a party representing a national character.

Its domestic and foreign policies became deadlocked in the sequences of the rupture of the bubble economy around 1990 and the changes in the world political situation. In the following 20 years, poverty and the gaps in people's livelihoods widened, and trust in Japan as a peaceful state became damaged by its military involvement abroad in the name of international contribution.

The judgment the people showed in the general election sharply questions the two key bases of the LDP government, the financial circles and large corporations and the Japan-U.S. military alliance.

- Akahata, September 7, 2009