Posted on 09/23/2008 11:14:29 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Ruling party leader Taro Aso was elected Japan's next prime minister Wednesday.
Aso, who was chosen president of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday, had already begun piecing together a Cabinet expected to include a fellow outspoken hawk as finance chief.
The opposition-controlled upper house voted for Ichiro Ozawa, head of the Democratic Party of Japan, as prime minister. But the more powerful lower chamber voted to override that ballot in favor of Aso.
The right-leaning former foreign minister will confront a country wracked by political divisions and concerns over the economy, which has stalled in recent months amid the ballooning financial crisis in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at my.att.net ...
Japan’s been going thur prime ministers like water ever Koizumi left office in 2005. Seems like they get a new one every year since then. I can’t keep track anymore. (it was kinda cool that one of them was known as “Honest” Abe though)
I never know, exactly, what “right” means. You never know what radicals want to change things to (could be less government, usually more), or what conservatives want to conserve (could be liberty; could be authority). I propose a new political spectrum: anarchists on one side and statists on the other. Who’s with me?
yeah. to some, right wing means they’ll chop your fingers off if you chew gum in public.
As for economic policy, they are not keen on income redistribution, in comparison with other political parties. More pro-business. Not necessarily for a small government in the real sense. However, they cut down their bureaucracy by some 40%. over 10 years. However, they suck up to their own special interests.
As for social and cultural issues, they are also conservative. No gay marriages, no peace movement, no radical environment agenda, no feminism. No usual left-wing social agendas.
I just don’t appreciate being compared to Nazis. Ever. So what if Hitler admired ancient Arian warrior-kings? He was a revolutionary, damnit!
conservative my @$$
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/22/asia/japan.php
Taro Aso, an outspoken conservative who has advocated a return to old-style government spending to stimulate Japan’s economy, was chosen Monday by the governing Liberal Democratic Party to become the nation’s next prime minister....
To critics, Aso is a throwback to the party’s big-spending ways who threatens to reverse a decade of reforms that shrank government and partially freed Japan’s economy.
Most Japanese Prime Ministers have held little actual power to change things, domestically, in Japan. They may campaign during elections on popular issues, but most government policy is set by the long-serving bureaucrats led by their long serving heads of the various national agencies and departments. Their ability to protect their turf and their policy prescriptions, with tons of clout with Japanese members of Parliament, make U.S. bureaucrats look like infants at the game.
The only big changes I expect to see from Aso is in how he presents Japan to foreigners and how foreigners, especially in Asia, behave toward Japan - because image, saving face, is more important in Asia than actual substantial change. Domestically, in Japan, don’t look for much change at all.
no redistribution is good. sounds like corporatism
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Great News! Japan just pumped in 20 billion to help shore up Morgan Stanley. The Japanese know if we go down, they go down too!
lots of people confuse it with conservatism. That’s why republicans have this old reputation as the party of the rich. They want tax cuts but they also want ethanol subsidies and all kinds of other goodies.
Does anybody know what a 'hawk' means in this context?
honey and vinegar. I'm guessing he's a leftist....
“Liberal Democratic” might have different meanings overseas as compared to the meaning we have over here.
I’m guessing, by the comments of others, that he’s no leftist.
Only “left-wing” seems to have the same meaning everywhere in the world.
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