The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has announced its election pledges, calling for Let’s Open Tomorrow of Japan. Unfortunately, however, they are full of lies. Its policy pamphlet is almost as identical as given for the 2017 general elections. The sole dissimilarity lies in a tactic to use the emperor’s alteration, taking advantage of the new imperial era, Reiwa. We must expose their lies and fictions. Let’s reduce the number of seats to be occupied by candidates from the LDP.

LET’S DISCLOSE LIES TO DECREASE EVEN A SNGLE SEAT FOR LDP POLITICIAN

The LDP’s election program, named Policy Pamphlet of the First Year of Reiwa, specifies six pillars:

(1)        to protect national interests by way of excellent diplomacy and reliable defense capabilities,

(2)        to raise people’s incomes through strong economy

(3)        to build up a society in which citizens work actively and live safely until they are 100 years old,

(4)        to encourage local economies across the nation so that residents can enjoy an advanced way of living,

(5)        to protect lives and properties from natural disasters, and

(6)        to work to amend the constitution.

Justification to preserve LDP’S interests

The LDP insists, in the beginning of the brochure, that US-Japan alliance must be more solid in diplomacy, expressing full trust in the Trump government. Meanwhile, no vision is seen on a dialogue with political leaders of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and a settlement of the disputed northern territory issue with Russia.

Concerning economy, the LDP stresses achievements of the so-called six-year-old Abenomics policies. It quotes the historic-high employment rate of young workers, the lowest number of bankruptcies of medium-and-smaller-sized business entities in the past 28 years, and the record-highest hiring rate of regular workers in the years.

With regard to the young workers’ jobs and the considerable space in recruiting regular workers, the issues are irrelevant to the Abenomics measures: the phenomena come mainly from labor shortage. Retiring generations annually emerge by a figure of 1.5 million workers, while entering workforce counts 1.2 million per year.

As for the alleged decrease of bankruptcies of smaller companies, many of entities temporarily suspend operation or close in legal terms. These proceedings count approximately 47 thousand.

A disposal income of a household reflects rightly today’s realities, though the party says a four-year consecutive growth: a fall of real wages, which is notable in comparison with those in other countries, and a rapid increase of irregular workers, such as dispatched workers sent by employment agents. These are consequences of the flexible workforce market policy. The LDP stresses innovation and a new frontier program, but it does not intend to increase wages of workers.

In the field of public services, the LDP proposes ‘a safe society in which people can live to be hundred years old’, saying that social infrastructure will be provided to respond to an era under which citizens can enjoy a hundred-year life with right pension plans. Judging, however, from the recent disputed report of the Finance Examination Council, the party’s logical context is collapsed. It says it is necessary for a person to save 20 million Yen to sustain a life after retirement.

The LDP’S ideas ‘to invest courageously for the future and safety of children’ and ‘to provide public services with which the elderly can lead a life safely’ wholly depend on the 10% consumption tax rate assumption to take momentary steps. The party is not genuinely interested in social services.

The LDP says it will protect agriculture, forestry and fisheries, referring to helping local economies throughout the nation, but nobody can tell how the Trump administration will behave in the bilateral trade deals. Reportedly, the government of Japan requested the counterpart to postpone announcement of negotiation results after the election of the Upper House. As for fisheries, the government revised the Fishery Act last year, by which big corporations are allowed to enter coastal fishing.

Concerning measures against natural disaster, the government has driven those Fukushima citizens hit by the double adversities out of the provisional houses. Grants for the victims have been cut off. Under the circumstances, the Abe government has decided to approve re-operation of suspended nuclear power plants, keeping inattention to developing renewable energy sources.

Inconvenient issues are left intact

The LDP document does not touch on inconvenient issues at all, while it emphasizes ‘achievements’, though they are not endorsed by correct data. Regarding constitution amendment, the LDP stipulates four items under Article Nine, including a description of the Self Defense Forces, which the constitution prohibits to possess.

We, party members of the New Socialist Party, must let voters know what the LDP governments have done, not limiting to what the ruling bloc says at the moment. And we must work in particular on people who give up voting, facing poverty and disadvantages.

July 9, 2019