Chapter 4 - Is the Liberal Democratic Party Really Tough?

Summary

ONE ASPECT OF CONSERVATISM: LIBERAL CONSERVATISM

Yamaguchi. When we examine party political trends since the end of the war, I think that in principle there have been three axes. Ishikawa Masumi wrote about this in the first part of his book Sengo seiji shi (Post-war Political History) (Iwanami Shinsho), in which he described his important discovery that from the first post-war general election onwards, the breakdown of support between conservatives and progressives was around two to one in favour of the former. In terms of principles, conservatism rested on two elements, while progressive views relied on only one. I think that the LDP's secret of strength lay in these two elements that it could consistently utilize.

Banno. Interesting.

Yamaguchi. The first element of effectiveness for the conservatives was native grass-roots conservative strength. I don't think that this has ever become a conscious principle, but I believe that in fact traditionalism has become the basis for conservative forces, and that it interacts quite well with bureaucratic power. The term 'vertical society' may be used in this context, since traditional conservatism has resorted to a style of politics that favours the paternalism of hierarchical relationships, and depends on repayment for allegiance granted to a boss. This system developed gradually, and was maintained under careful control. Later all this came to be closely linked with the Tanaka faction and the Keiseikai.

These forces developed close links with sparsely populated regions, and with economically weak workers in agriculture, and in small- and medium-sized companies. They rolled out policies particularly beneficial to nonelite elements of society. Typical personalities involved were the politicians Tanaka Kakuei [Prime Minister, 1972-1974] and Takeshita Noboru [Prime Minister, 1987–1989]. Their way of operating was in a sense quite compatible with post-war democracy. Indeed, most of their supporters were those who had first become independent farmers with the land reform, and were thus beneficiaries of the post-war reforms. And then there was also the common element of equalization, through policies of reducing differences between regions.