Socialism & Ecology in Japan-Look back to '47

[Brad De Long]

>Brad, why don't you just put your cards on the table and say you support the
>US policy of backing ... a right-wing capitalist elite in Japan?
>
>Tim Shorrock

I wish U.S. occupation policy in Japan had been a couple of steps 
further to the left. Nevertheless, there is no denying that Japan is 
today and has for the past fifty years been the most prosperous and 
democratic country in Asia. Something went very right with post-WWII 
reconstruction in Japan. The regime and society that grew out of 
MacArthur's proconsulship is the closest thing to Utopia that exists 
in Asia.

Of course I support the broad outlines of U.S. occupation policy in 
Japan. It appears to have worked damned well--unless you think 
freedom of speech, regular elections, and material prosperity are bad 
things.

Brad DeLong