ミルトンの『アレオパギティカ』から見る日本の政治
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概要
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On Sunday, July 29 2001, the first national election in the 21st century was held in Japan. It was the election for the House of Councilors. I challenged that election. The result was a crushing defeat. But why did I run for that election? Because I was stimulated by Milton's attitude toward politics. What Milton particularly emphasized in his philosophy of politics was that he who wished to be a politician should be "a man of nobility." "The separation of church and state" was another principle that he strongly appealed. Milton's idea of politics clearly shows in his essay called Areopagitica: "When complaints are freely heard, deeply considered, and speedily reformed, then is the utmost bound of civill liberty attained that wise men look for." (Hughes, p. 718). It is the idea of democracy today. I compared myself to Milton and defied the status quo. While Milton was seeking for the state of the republic through the Puritan Revolution in the 17th century, so I was seeking for cleaning up the political world in Japan. Politics, as Lincoln said, ought to be done "of the people, by the people, and for the people." Nevertheless in Japan, it strays so far away from the idea of democracy that Milton and Lincoln had thought. In Japan, in many cases, politics has been conducted not for the people but for the stateman's own interests. This situation has disappointed me for a long time, and it motivated me to run for the election. However, through the 17 days election campaigning, I learned that it is quite difficult to correct the situation. There are a number of reasons that hampered correcting the situation such as voter apathy, particularly the miserable lack of politican education. The majority of the electorate treat going to the polls as if voting in a popularity contest. They seldom care about the party's policies. Under such circumstances, the purpose of this essay is to compare Milton's idea of democracy with that of present day Japan.