SPIRIT's Diary

  “Of course, ordinary people do not want war. But it is always easy to get the people to take part in a war. It is very simple. All you have to do is tell them that they are under attack and openly denounce pacifists as unpatriotic people who are putting the country in danger. This method works just as well in any country.” (Attributed to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, although some say it was said by Hermann Göring, Reich Marshal of Nazi Germany.) “When the Nazis came for the Communists [Note 2], I did not speak out, because I was not a Communist. When they imprisoned the Social Democrats, I did not speak out, because I was not a Social Democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.” (Martin Niemöller, German pastor) I feel that these two statements still sound a warning today. Yet the reality is that words simply do not reach some peopl...

On the 19th, Prime Minister Takaichi dissolved the House of Representatives, and it has been decided that a House election will be held with voting and counting on February 8. Wanting to fight an election you can win is only human, so perhaps the idea is to solidify the governing base while support for the Takaichi Cabinet is still high. (Right now it’s a minority ruling party, after all.) Well, my mother is complaining nonstop, though. She’s disliked Prime Minister Takaichi for a long time, and she likes Mr. Tōru Tamagawa. However, at this point, the Constitutional Democratic Party and Komeito have moved closer together, and a Centrist Reform Coalition has been formed. Whether that becomes the detonator for a realignment of the political world remains to be seen. That said, as those people often argue, it may be necessary to revise the electoral system itself and aim for a moderate multiparty system (a multiparty system with small ideological differences between parties). (Still, even...