Apple創始者・スティーヴ・ジョブスの伝説のスピーチ(2)

Apple創始者・スティーヴ・ジョブスの伝説のスピーチ(2)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1422863/posts

My third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors' code for "prepare to die." It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell them, in just a few months. It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. right now, the new is you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalogue, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stuart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late Sixties, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. it was sort of like Google in paperback form thirty-five years before Google came along. I was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stuart and his team put out several issues of the The Whole Earth Catalogue, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-Seventies and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath were the words, "Stay hungry, stay foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. "Stay hungry, stay foolish." And I have always wished that for myself, and now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry, stay foolish.

Thank you all, very much.

---

Apple創始者・スティーヴ・ジョブスの伝説のスピーチ(1)

Apple創始者・スティーヴ・ジョブスの伝説のスピーチ(1)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1422863/posts

Thank you. I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.

Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college.

This was the start in my life. And seventeen years later, I did go to college, but I naïvely chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no idea of how college was going to help me figure it out, and here I was, spending all the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example.

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.

If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class and personals computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.

Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something--your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever--because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.

My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was twenty. We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We'd just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I'd just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so, things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure and I even thought about running away from the Valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I'd been rejected but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life. During the next five years I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated feature film, "Toy Story," and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.

In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance, and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle.

英語語彙力増強マラソン（１）

Choose Sagely　

Today, the paramount influence in the forming of public opinion is propaganda.

【Words】
paramount：最高の，至上の、最も重要な，主要な，卓越［傑出］した

It is not a heresy to our democratic beliefs to state that pressure groups play an important part in our lives.

【Words】
heresy：an opinion or doctrine contrary to the orthodox tenets of a religious body or church

Propaganda makes one vulnerable to the influences of others.

The prudent person will choose between cogent and specious propaganda efforts.

【Words】
prudent ：
cogent：説得力のある
specious：うわべはよく見える、見掛け倒しの

While propaganda has the ostensible purpose of informing the public, the most fervid propagandists use methods that must be examined by the thoughtful citizen.

【Words】
ostensible：表向きの、見せかけの、表面上の
fervid：熱烈な、熱情的な

The ability to distinguish the spurious from the true facts requires more than a perfunctory examination of prevalent propaganda efforts.

【Words】
spurious:にせものの、擬似の
perfunctory：いい加減な、おざなりの
prevalent：広く行き渡った

【今日の注目英語記事】 

ジャパンタイムズの社説に、「National anthem debate」と題して、この前の東京高等裁判所の判決に対する反対意見が書かれています。
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/ed20110208a1.html

さすがに、ジャパンタイムズだと思った（笑い）。

ジャパンタイムズの主張したいことは次のように述べられています。

This ruling is difficult to understand. It does not address the likely possibility that forcing teachers to stand before Hinomaru and sing Kimigayo may make some teachers feel that their freedom of thought and conscience are being violated. It seems that the high court thinks that outward actions and inner freedom have nothing to do with each other. The court also forgets an important aspect about a national flag and a national anthem — that they must be accepted spontaneously by people.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

The Supreme Court failed to pay attention to the simple fact that the principal's order brought spiritual pain to the teacher. The Japanese judiciary should fulfill its duty of protecting the rights of people who hold minority opinions.

ご興味ある方、読んでみてください。

 

Exclusive!: Hosni Mubarak Remarks on Barack Obama, US; Christiane Amanpour Interviews 2/4/2011

Exclusive!: Hosni Mubarak Remarks on Barack Obama, US; Christiane Amanpour Interviews 2/4/2011

Hosni Mubarak Exclusive

ロバートゲーツアメリカ国防長官慶応大学で講演

米・ゲーツ国防長官、東京都内の大学で講演　在日米軍の長期駐留の必要性を訴え

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Emphasizes the Importance of Dialogue with China

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Discusses North Korean Issues

 

U.S.-Japan ties should deepen, Gates says, citing threats from China, N. Korea

By John Pomfret
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2011; 1:02 AM

 

TOKYO - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Friday invoked threats from North Korea and China's modernizing military as reasons to strengthen the U.S. alliance with Japan and to keep U.S. forces strong in the Pacific.

Speaking at Keio University, Gates also said he was worried about a "disconnect" between China's civilian and military leadership. While he was in Beijing earlier this week, the country's military conducted the first flight test of its new stealth fighter jet on the same day as Gates met with President Hu Jintao. Hu told Gates that he didn't know the test had taken place.

"On the whole, I think this is something of a worry," Gates said, citing a Chinese anti-satellite test in 2007 and the menacing of a U.S. Navy surveillance ship in 2009 as other examples. Still, Gates added, "in the larger sense of who controls the Chinese military and who is the ultimate authority, there is no doubt in my mind that it is President Hu Jintao and the civilian leadership of that country."

Gates reiterated a proposal for a dialogue that would, for the first time, group China's military and civilian leaders with their U.S. counterparts as a way to help Beijing bridge its gaps. Hu is coming to Washington next week for his second and last summit with President Obama.

In pointed comments directed to both Pyongyang and Beijing, Gates also told an audience of students that, without a strong U.S. military presence in Japan, North Korea's military could be even more "outrageous" and "China might behave more assertively towards its neighbors."

Gates also said he would like to see Japan's security forces take on a wider role in the region and pushed Japan and South Korea's military to work more closely together to deal with North Korea's provocations.

In an interview Thursday, Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa committed Japan to work in unprecedented ways with the U.S. military - such as providing logistical support for a potential war on the Korean Peninsula or undertaking evacuations of civilians there.

"The basic principle of Japan is to pursue peace," Kitazawa said. "But we also need to have measures to avoid being left behind."

Gates is on the last day of a five-day trip to Asia that has focused on coming up with a strategy to deal with a nuclear-armed and increasingly erratic North Korea and also reestablishing high-level military talks with China. He spent three days in Beijing, two in Tokyo and was set Friday to hold several hours of meetings in Seoul before heading back to the United States.

In Beijing, Gates's message was that the United States wanted better ties with the People's Liberation Army in order to avoid the miscalculations that can often lead to war. Gates also aimed at convincing China to do more to rein in North Korea, which in the past year has been blamed in two attacks on the South that killed 50 people.

He put the Chinese on notice that North Korea would, within five years, become a "direct threat" to the interests of the United States as it develops nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

In his speech Friday, Gates noted that Chinese technological advances in cyber- and anti-satellite warfare posed a "potential challenge to the ability of our forces to operate and communicate in this part of the Pacific." He drew a parallel between China and the Soviet Union - saying that during the Cold War, the talks between Washington and Moscow were important in ensuring peace.

Then Gates, as he has in the past, followed immediately by saying that "the Cold War is mercifully long over and the circumstances with China today are vastly different." Still, his persistent framing of Washington's ties with Beijing within the context of the Cold War underscore the complex nature of U.S. relations with China.

Gates also put Beijing on notice that the United States completely rejected China's view that it can claim an exclusive economic zone stretching 200 miles from its coast. Beijing contends that U.S. naval vessels should not be allowed to conduct operations there.

"One area where it's impossible to compromise" with China, Gates said, "is the freedom of navigation, the freedom of the global commons for commerce, trade, for shipping."

ロバートゲーツアメリカ国防長官慶応大学で講演

米・ゲーツ国防長官、東京都内の大学で講演　在日米軍の長期駐留の必要性を訴え

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Discusses North Korean Issues

 

Working through regional and international forums puts our alliance in the best position to confront some of Asia’s toughest security challenges.  As we have been reminded once again in recent weeks, none has proved to be more vexing and enduring than North Korea.  Despite the hopes and best efforts of the South Korean government, the U.S. and our allies, and the international community, the character and priorities of the North Korean regime sadly have not changed.  North Korea’s ability to launch another conventional ground invasion is much degraded from even a decade or so ago, but in other respects it has grown more lethal and destabilizing.  Today, it is North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and proliferation of nuclear know-how and ballistic missile equipment that have focused our attention – developments that threaten not just the peninsula, but the Pacific Rim and international stability as well. 

In response to a series of provocations – the most recent being the sinking of the Cheonan and North Korea’s lethal shelling of a South Korean island – Japan has stood shoulder to shoulder with the Republic of Korea and the United States.  Our three countries continue to deepen our ties through the Defense Trilateral Talks – the kind of multilateral engagement among America’s long-standing allies that the U.S. would like to see strengthened and expanded over time. 

When and if North Korea’s behavior gives us any reasons to believe that negotiations can be conducted productively and in good faith, we will work with Japan, South Korea, Russia, and China to resume engagement with North Korea through the six party talks.  The first step in the process should be a North-South engagement.  But, to be clear, the North must also take concrete steps to honor its international obligations and comply with U.N. Security Council Resolutions. 

Any progress towards diffusing the crisis on the Korean Peninsula must include the active support of the People’s Republic of China – where, as you probably know, I just finished an official visit.   China has been another important player whose economic growth has fueled the prosperity of this part of the world, but questions about its intentions and opaque military modernization program have been a source of concern to its neighbors. 

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Emphasizes the Importance of Dialogue with China

Any progress towards diffusing the crisis on the Korean Peninsula must include the active support of the People’s Republic of China – where, as you probably know, I just finished an official visit.   China has been another important player whose economic growth has fueled the prosperity of this part of the world, but questions about its intentions and opaque military modernization program have been a source of concern to its neighbors. 

Questions about China’s growing role in the region manifest themselves in territorial disputes – most recently in the incident in September near the Senkaku Islands, an incident that served as a reminder of the important of America’s and Japan’s treaty obligations to one another.  The U.S. position on maritime security remains clear: we have a national interest in freedom of navigation; in unimpeded economic development and commerce; and in respect for international law.  We also believe that customary international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, provides clear guidance on the appropriate use of the maritime domain, and rights of access to it.

Nonetheless, I disagree with those who portray China as an inevitable strategic adversary of the United States.  We welcome a China that plays a constructive role on the world stage.  In fact, the goal of my visit was to improve our military-to-military relationship and outline areas of common interest.  It is precisely because we have questions about China’s military – just as they might have similar questions about the United States – that I believe a healthy dialogue is needed.

Last fall, President Obama and President Hu Jin Tao made a commitment to advance sustained and reliable defense ties, not a relationship repeatedly interrupted by and subject to the vagaries of political weather.  On a personal note, one of the things I learned from my experience dealing with the Soviet Union during my earlier time in government was the importance of maintaining a strategic dialogue and open lines of communication.  Even if specific agreements did not result – on nuclear weapons or anything else – this dialogue helped us understand each other better and lessen the odds of misunderstanding and miscalculation.  The Cold War is mercifully long over and the circumstances with China today are vastly different – but the importance of maintaining dialogue is as important today.  

 

前原外務大臣CSISで英語講演

前原外務大臣が英語で講演しています。
前原外務大臣の英語、お世辞にも上手いとは言えませんが、アメリカのシンクタンクで英語で講演したことは評価したい。

英語に関心を持っている日本人は、日米関係や国際政治の英語表現を、前原外務大臣の英語講演のトランスクリプトから学べばいいのでは、と思っています。

Statesmen's Forum: Seiji Maehara, Minister for Foreign Affai

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011

EDITORIAL

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20110111a1.html

 

Boosting Japan, U.S. cooperation

 In their Washington meeting last Thursday, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed to establish new common strategic goals for the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world.

The agreement represents the two nations' determination to deepen their relations because the ties have faced difficulties over the issue of the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Island and because the security situation in the region is deteriorating due to China's military buildup and North Korea's provocative actions.

Mr. Maehara and Ms. Clinton agreed that the six-party talks on North Korea's denuclearization and bilateral talks between Washington and Pyongyang can resume only if the North stops its provocative actions and takes concrete steps to abandon its nuclear program. The North should take this call seriously and act accordingly. The two also agreed that China should play a constructive role as a responsible member of the international community. Given China's military buildup, increased naval activities in the region and failure to use its political and economic leverage against Pyongyang to resolve the nuclear standoff, it is logical that Japan and the U.S. should strengthen their political and security cooperation.

But because the tension in the region is high, it is all the more important for both Japan and the U.S. to have close, multi-level communications with China to prevent crises. They should pursue a wise and coolheaded approach to China so that the type of confrontation as prevailed during the Cold War era will not re-emerge. Ms. Clinton said that the cooperation between the U.S. and Japan should cover the "full range of global and strategic issues, from nuclear proliferation to maritime security, and from global economic recovery and growth to energy security and climate change." Japan should carefully weigh what it can do to enhance both its national interests and the global well-being in accordance with its pacifist constitutional principles.

ラリーキングライブインタビューにスティーブンホーキングが登場

英語を学ぶ日本人にとってラリーキングライブインタビューは最高の目標ですが、その番組に話題の書「ザ・グランド・デザイン」を出したホーキングが登場しました。

そんなに難解な語彙を使っているのではないのですが、内容が高度なのですね。平易な語彙を使いながら、高度な内容を述べる、ということが、レベルの高い人の特徴ではないかと思っています。

今回のラリーキングライブに登場する人たちの話を聞いているとそのことを痛烈に感じますね。

カトリック神父やインド哲学を基本に置いている精神的指導者ディーパクチョプラが、ホーキングやホーキングの共著者の哲学と自分たちの哲学とどこに違和感を感じるのか、あるいは、どこが賛同できるところであるのか、非常に分かりやすく、視聴者に伝えている。

何故われわれは存在しているのか、なぜこのような宇宙が存在しているのか、人間や宇宙の根本問題を論じる人たちの姿を見て、久々に知的興奮を覚えました（笑い）。ラリーキングの番組は興味のないものも多いが、時々、こういう番組もあるから、チェックを怠らないようにしています。

この番組に知的興奮を覚える人は、この番組を英会話の教材として使ってみたらどうでしょうか。私もさっそく、トランスクリプトをプリントアウトして自分の英語教材として使っています。

「宇宙の解明に神は不要」　ホーキング博士が番組出演

http://www.cnn.co.jp/world/30000184.html

2010.09.12 Sun posted at: 11:34 JST

 （ＣＮＮ）　「宇宙の誕生を説明するのに神は必要ない」――新著「ザ・グランド・デザイン」で議論を巻き起こしている英物理学者スティーブン・ホーキング博士（６８）が、１０日放送のＣＮＮのインタビュー番組で改めて持論を展開した。

ホーキング博士はインタビューで、「神は存在するかもしれないが、科学は創造主を必要とすることなく宇宙を説明することができる」と述べた。また、新著が宗教界などから強い批判を浴びていることについて問われ、「かつて宗教の領域とされた質問も、科学が答えられるようになってきている。科学による説明は完璧で、神学は必要ない」と繰り返した。

新著については「宇宙の仕組みやその中でのわれわれの位置を、より広い視点からとらえようとする試みだ。これは人間の基本的な欲求であり、われわれの心配事も大局的に見ることが可能になる」と強調した。

また、こうした考えの背後には、無から生まれた多数の宇宙の存在を認める「Ｍ理論」があると述べ、タイムトラベルができたら将来へ飛んで、Ｍ理論が本当にすべてを説明できるのかどうかを確認してみたいと話した。

ホーキング博士は４５年前に筋萎縮性側索硬化症（ＡＬＳ）と診断され、車椅子と音声合成装置の助けを借りて研究活動を続けている。博士はインタビューで、闘病生活は「順調だ」と語った。

 Larry King Live - Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow, Deepak Chopra, Robert Spitzer - Part 1 of 3

Larry King Live - Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow, Deepak Chopra, Robert Spitzer - Part 2 of 3

Larry King Live - Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow, Deepak Chopra, Robert Spitzer - Part 3 of 3

■この番組のトランスクリプト

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1009/10/lkl.01.html

小沢一郎タイム誌インタビュー（２）

 

 

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1885041,00.html

 

TIME: We've seen what U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has done in his first 100 days. If the DPJ takes power in the next general election, what can we expect?

オバマ政権の最初の１００日の間にやっていることをわたしたちは観察しています。もし民主党が次の総選挙で政権の座に就いたなら、何が期待できるのですか？

OZAWA: We have already come up with a timetable for actions to be taken after we take power. But the general election has been delayed again and again and again, and so we have not disclosed our timetable yet. As for specific issues ― for example pension reforms and medical insurance reforms and employment issues ― of course we have to deal with those. However, more important is that we have to make fundamental reform in the current government system, in which the government is led primarily by the bureaucracy. We have to replace this with a system in which the politicians take the lead to formulate the policies, make decisions on policies and execute those policies. The current government is totally dependent on and controlled by the bureaucracy. For that very reason, in difficult times like these, even when politicians in the ruling camp want to make changes, they have nothing to do.

わたしたちは政権獲得後に、実行するべき政策の計画案をすでに用意しています。しかし総選挙が何度も何度も先き伸ばされているので、まだわたしたちは政策の計画案を発表していません。具体的な問題ーーたとえば年金改革や医療保険改革や雇用問題ーーについては、もちろん取り組んでいかなければなりません。しかしながらもっと重要なことは現在の政治の仕組みを根本から変えなけkればならないということなのです。政府が主に官僚によって仕切られている仕組みを変えなければなりません。この現在の官僚主導の仕組みを、政治家が政策を立案し、政治家がその政策の可否の決定をし、それらの政策を実行に移すという仕組みに変えていかなければならないのです。官僚主導という現在の仕組みのために、現在のような危機の時代において、政権の座にいる政治家が迅速な行動を取ろうと考えても、具体的な行動が取れないでいるのです。

 TIME: You have long argued that Japan needed to be a "normal" country, a country in which politicians took responsibility. Do you think this is as relevant today?

あなたは以前から日本は「普通の」国にならなければならないと主張してきました。政治家が責任を取る国ということですね。このあなたの考えは現在でも妥当だと考えていますか。

OZAWA: Totally relevant. Without this reform we will not be able to create a new Japan. However, I would like add the following point so that I am not misunderstood. I'm not saying that bureaucracy is unnecessary. What I'm saying is that the basic policy course should be set by politicians. And once the course is set the specific policies are supposed to be implemented by the bureaucrats. That means that the bureaucrats, like the politicians, are supposed to do their own jobs.

まったく妥当します。わたしが今述べた、根本的な改革なくしては、わたしたちは新しい日本を創ることなど不可能なことです。しかしながら私が主張していることを誤解されないために以下のポイントを付け加えたいと思います。つまりこういうことなんです。官僚制度が不要だということではないんです。わたしが言いたいのは、基本的な政策の道筋は政治家によって決められなければならないということなんです。そして、一旦、基本的な方向が決定されたなら、具体的な政策は官僚によって実行されるということです。つまり、官僚は、政治家と同じように、本来の自分たちのやるべき仕事をすればいいのだ、ということなんです。

【コメント】

ここは、最も、小沢氏の哲学が語られているところであり、最も人を惹きつけてやまない哲学であるのですね。

副島隆彦氏は今日のぼやきで次のように語っておられる。

http://www.snsi.jp/tops/kouhou

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小沢革命が断行すべき重要な制度改革は、公務員制度改革である。これだけはなんとしても、法案を提出してすぐに成立させなければならない。あとは、亀井静香・国民新党が悲願にしてきた郵政見直し法（　郵政「再国有化」法で何が悪い。自民党どもよ　）　も通さなければいけない。公務員制度改革とは、これまで私たちがしつこく書いてきたとおり、各省の高級公務員（官僚）たちを、叩（たた）きのめすことである。各省ごとに１０人ぐらいずついる局長と事務次官、審議官たちを、すべて若い国会議員にすげ替えることである。

　そして、部長級から下にすべての官僚たちをたたき落とすことである。彼らを、政治家たちの、ただの小間使いの、事務公務員に正しく作り変えることである。官僚というコトバをこの国から消滅させることである。官僚支配の息の根を止めなければならない。　彼ら、上級公務員たちを、ただの事務公務員に引きずりおろさなければならない。彼らは制度上、部長（級）にまでしかなれないようにしなければならない。それが、昨年の８月に民主党マニフェストが掲げた、公務員制度改革法である。

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副島氏らしい語り口ですが、私も激しく同意します。

それでは、さらに詳しく小沢氏に語ってもらいましょう。

 日本は本当に民主主義国家なのか

　民主主義国家において、いわゆる三権、つまり、司法・立法・行政という権力のうち、立法と行政という二大機能を政治家が動かすことができるのは、政治家が主権者である国民によって選ばれているからに他ならない。
　僕たち政治家は、選挙によって国民の信任を得た「代表」である。だからこそ、政治に携わる資格がある。それが民主主義の大原則であり、ルールだ。
　考えてみてほしい。
　もし、正当な選挙によって選ばれたことのない人間が政治の中枢に坐っているとしたら、その国は民主主義国家と呼ばれる資格はあるだろうか？
　たとえば、軍事クーデターで軍人が政権を握ったら、その国は「軍事独裁国家」と言われるだろう。また、かつてのソ連は形だけの選挙はあったけれども、実質は共産党エリートが支配する国家だったから、これも民主主義国家とは見なされなかった。今の北朝鮮も、選挙によって選ばれていない指導者がトップにいるから、これも民主主義国家とは言われない。
　こうしたことは誰でも知っているはずなのに、自分の国の政治が事実上、官僚によって動かされてきたことには何の不思議も覚えないのだからおかしな話だ。
　それどころか、「政治家には任せられない。官僚のほうが安心できる」という風潮さえあったのだ。
　これで、果たして日本は「民主主義国家」と言えるのだろうか？
　政治の重要事項を政治家ならぬ官僚が決めてしまうのでは、日本はとうてい民主主義国家とは言えない。むしろ「官僚社会主義」の国家であると言ったほうがずっと実態に近いのではないだろうか。

なぜ、官僚任せではいけないのか

　しかし、こうした僕の話に対して、読者の中には反論する人もいるだろう。
「政治はどこまでいっても結果論だ。これまで官僚が日本の政治を動かしていたのは、民主主義の原則に反していたかもしれないが、それでうまく行っていたのだし、ソ連や北朝鮮のように人権が抑圧されていたわけではない。」
　たしかに、政治は結果論であるのは間違いない。だが、官僚たちがやれば、本当にうまく政治をやれるのだろうか。能力さえあれば、選挙を経ていなくても政治を行う資格があるのだろうか。
　僕はそう思わない。やはりたとえ彼らが優秀であっても、官僚は政治を行ってはいけないのだ。
　なぜなら、官僚には「結果責任」がないからだ。
　政治家は、選挙という場を借りて自分の信念を国民に問う。もし、政治家の信念や政策が間違っていると国民が判断すれば、その政治家は落選する。また、政権与党の採った政策が間違っていたら、その党は選挙で与党の座を失うことにもなるだろう。
　民主主義が他のどの政治制度よりも優れていると言われるのは、こうしたチェック機能があって、つねに権力の暴走を監視するシステムになっているからである。

「小沢主義」９２～９５ｐより

小沢一郎タイム誌インタビュー（１）

 

小沢氏の政治哲学には共鳴するところも多い。もちろん、全面的に賛成というのではないが、賛成できるところもあるということですね。 特に、官僚主義からの脱却というところが最も共感できるところです。お上意識を卒業せよ、ということですね。 外交政策に関しては、いわゆる、「吉田ドクトリン」からの卒業、ということでしょうか。そのためには、憲法改正が、どうしても求められると私は思うのですが、この点に関しては、小沢氏は現行憲法でも十分可能だと主張しているのですが、私はこれには賛成できない。 まあ、その他、いろいろあるのですが、去年のタイム誌のインタビュー記事の日本語訳を載せていきながら、書いていきたい。

 http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1885041,00.html

TIME: President Ozawa, you've always had a reputation for 25 years as being a man behind the scenes in Japanese politics. Do you want to be Prime Minister?

小沢代表、あなたは２５年間、日本政治のなかで、舞台裏の男と言われてきました。あなたは日本の首相になりたいのですか？

OZAWA: I don't say that I really like doing jobs behind the scenes. Rather I'm very much good at, fond of, working at practical things and therefore I don't like to be showy on the stage.

わたしは本当に舞台裏で仕事をするのが好きでたまらない、ということではないんです。むしろ現実的な物事に取り組むのが得意であり、大好きなのです。ですから、あまり表舞台で目立つのは好きではないんですね。

 In responding to your question, if I was able to win the general election as the President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), and I am supported by the majority of the voters, then I am ready to deliver my responsibility.

それで、あなたのご質問にお答えしますと、もし私が民主党の代表として総選挙に勝つことができ、有権者の支持を得ることができるならば、自分の責任を果たす用意はできています。

TIME: I think that's a yes. But what do you think is the main concern of the Japanese electorate and how would you address that concern?

ということはイエスということなんですね。では、有権者が最も関心を持っていることは何だと考えていますか。そして、それに対してどのように対処していかれるのでしょうか。

OZAWA: Looking back over the past 10 years, the government under the Liberal Democratic Party promoted excessive deregulation in the name of globalization and reforms. If you take a look at the situation in the area of national income, (corporate) managers were able to increase their income by twice to three times, and shareholders' dividends increased by twice that again. But the real income of salaried workers declined by 7% to 8 %. This demonstrates an excessive market economy produced a handful of super-rich people and the income gap widened. We have to rectify the disparities in the distribution of income.

過去１０年間を振り返ってみますと、自民党政権は、グローバリゼイションと改革の名の元で、行き過ぎた規制緩和を推進してきました。国民の所得の実態を調べると、会社の経営者の所得は２倍から三倍に増加し、株主の配当金は２倍以上に増えています。しかしサラリーマンの実質の所得は７パーセントから８パーセント下がっています。ことことは、行き過ぎた市場経済は一握りの富裕層を生み出し、ますます所得格差が広がっていることを示しています。わたしたちは極端な所得格差を是正しなければならないのです。

Now Japan's economy has been hard hit by this financial crisis. Under these circumstances, Japan's traditional safety net ― the lifetime employment system ― was forced to be changed to a great extent. As a result of policies particularly pursued by the Koizumi administration, this employment system has completely collapsed. As a result we are witnessing a large growth in unemployed people, which creates a lot of concern.

今、日本経済は深刻な財政危機に見舞われています。このような状況下で、日本の伝統的なセーフティネットーー終身雇用制度ーーは大きな変更を強いられました。特に小泉政権によって行われた政策の結果、この日本の伝統的な雇用制度は完全に破壊されました。この結果、わたしたちは現在大量の失業者を目撃しています。これは社会全体に不安をもたらしています。

TIME: Is the answer to go back to the traditional Japanese conception of lifelong employment, or is it to create a genuine social safety net with a reformed pension system and reformed medical care system?

小泉政権による行き過ぎた規制緩和による社会破壊に対処するためには、伝統的な日本の終身雇用制度に戻るのか、それとも改革された年金制度や医療制度をともなった、本物の社会安全ネットを作ることですか？

OZAWA: Well, we have no intention of going back to the traditional system. We have to incorporate free-market competition into the lifetime employment system. But we need to keep the good aspects and benefits of that old system so that we can mix them together.

わたしたちは古い制度にもどるつもりはありません。終身雇用制度のなかに自由市場の競争を導入する必要があります。とはいうものの、伝統的な制度の良い面や恩恵は維持しながら、安定と競争を混在させることができるのです。