Did you enjoy my ramblings about political funds? Rejoice then; Sankei—bless their damn-the-corporate-sponsor conservative souls—has a nice story about fund-raising parties. It’s a reminder of the reason why the DPJ needs three more years to wean themselves off the corporate teat*.
This, and Hatoyama’s waffling around national security and agricultural policy, as well as Ozawa’s two bits on the latter, are not going to materially affect the outcome of the election. It’s increasingly shaping up as the “Consider the Alternatives” election, and the LDP has lost too many rounds to win on points.
Incidentally, I have a hard time understanding why the SDP is joining hands with the DPJ, which appears to be knee deep in a tacit conspiracy with the LDP to drive the micro-parties the way of the dodo and the passenger pigeon. Bu then, they are the diehard remnants of the Murayama Socialists, who chose a political instant of the illusion of power and have been paying for it with an eternity of insignificance.
* I have nothing against corporate money in politics as long as there is full disclosure to the last yen. For all donors.
2 comments:
A related question is whether corporations have rights in Japanese law. One of the most controversial decisions in American legal history was granting personhood to corporations. Thus, many reformers over the years have pushed to eliminate this.
Does a similar construct exist in Japan? Do corporations have inalienable rights?
PaxAmericana:
It’s the law in Japan, though I do not believe that they have inalienable rights. For one thing, they have no constitutional standing. (I doubt that the right to assemble covers that, though I’d have to check.) Not that it’s ever been an issue. When we got around to adopting a Civil Code, in 1896, it was already accepted legal doctrine in the West, and anything good for them was good for us. There’s a whole chapter in the Civil Code, where it says in Article 33, “No juridical person can be formed unless it is formed pursuant to the applicable provisions of this Code or other laws.” The Commercial Code and its contemporary subdivision the Commercial Code has taken care of that for profit-making corporations.
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