Japanese access to operate their Japanese Studies programs. Inrnturn, the Japanese recognize that these institutions craft manyrnof the ideas and conduct many of the studies that shapernAmerican opinion on trade and economic poHcy. Ahnostrnwithout exception, Japanese contributions support the work ofrnthose who advocate neoclassical laissez-faire trade policies.rnThese views are genuinely held; the Americans who argue forrnthis approach would make the same argument with or withoutrnJapanese financial assistance. What the Japanese hope to accomplishrnthrough their support of these people’s work is tornamplify it, sustain it, and give it added influence in the highlyrncompetitive marketplace of ideas. Moreover, since ties tornand support from Japan are often obscured or left unreported,rnthe question of objectivity goes unasked.rnAmerican academics typically line up on every side of everyrnissue. But in the case of American relations with Japan, morernthan simple intellectual disagreement has come into play.rnThe Japanese exercise extraordinarily tight control over accessrnto information within Japan. In more than one case,rnAmerican scholars, academics, and students who have beenrncritical of Japan have found their research efforts jeopardizedrnor hindered. Conversely, friends of Japan can find most obstaclesrnswiftly removed. Another consideration is money. Itrntakes a great deal of money to run a major Japanese Studiesrnprogram—and the Japanese only contribute substantial sumsrnto those wliose academic research supports their interests andrnsubstantiates their propaganda.rnThe third channel for carrying Japanese propaganda is thernAmerican media, which Japan affects in two ways: financingrnprograms that are presented over the airwaves and influencingrnthe content of journalists’ reporting on Japan. Since the earlyrn1980’s, Tele japan and the Japan Center for Informationrnand Cultural Affairs (JCICA) have sponsored television and radiornprograms in the United States, producing shows for thernChristian Broadcasting Network, the USA Cable Network,rnthe Cable News Network, and public television stations. BothrnTelejapan and JCICA are directly linked to the Japaneserngovernment. Telejapan is affiliated with the Ministry of InternationalrnTrade and Industry. JCICA works with the ForeignrnMinistry, which has had to approve the release of funds for atrnleast one of its television projects.rnAgain, foreign politicking and propagandizing in the UnitedrnStates are completely legal. But they obviously are alsorndeeply corrosive of America’s political and economic system.rnThe revolving door in Washington, D.C., breeds cynicismrnand mistrust and ultimately represents a form of political corruptionrn—completely legal, but also completely unethical. Itrncheapens our national honor. It destroys the integrity of ourrnpolitics and government. The problem, of course, is not inrnforeign capitals, but in Washington, D.C.rnClearly, the revolving door must stop. Those who holdrntop federal positions, such as the Director of the Central IntelligencernAgency, the U.S. Trade Representative, and thernSecretary of State, should be permanently prohibited fromrnbecoming foreign agents or paid lobbyists for any corporationrn—foreign or domestic. And those who do lobby should bernrequired to reveal for whom they work and to whom theyrnmake gifts and monies available. Thus all lobbyists—thosernwho represent domestic or foreign clients, whether as lobbyists,rnjournalists, academics, public relations advisors, political strategists,rnlawyers, or foundations—should provide full disclosure tornthe Justice Department. No exceptions. Foreign companiesrnshould be flatly prohibited from participating in and contributingrnto American elections. America’s existing moneyrnpolitics is bad enough; foreign money politics is out of thernquestion.rnUltimately it is up to the American people to demand arnhigher standard of conduct from their elected and appointedrnrepresentatives. The manipulation of our political and economicrnsystem by foreign interests threatens our nationalrnsovereignty. Only we can stop it.rnLIBERAL ARTSrnREGARDING PRESIDENT CLINTON’S ECONOMIC PLAN . . .rn”Every man cannot have a ship of his own, nor every man be a merchant without a stock, and these things, you know well,rnmust needs be had; every man cannot have a plough by himself. And who might live by the tailor’s craft, if no man were able tornput a gown to make? Who by the masonry or who could live a carpenter if no man were able to build neither a church nor house?rnWho should be makers of any manner cloth, if there lacked men of substance to set sundry sorts a work? Some man that hath butrntwo ducats in his house were far better forbear them both and leave himself not a farthing but uttedy lose all his own, than thatrnsome rich man, by whom he is weekly set to work, should of his money lose the one half, for then were himself like to lack work.rnFor surely the rich man’s substance is the wcllspring of the poor man’s living. And therefore here would it fare bv the poor manrnas it fared by the woman in one of Aesop’s fables, which had an hen that laid her every day a golden egg, till on a day shernthought she would have a great many eggs at once and therefore she killed her lien, and found but one or twain in her belly, so thatrnfor covetise of those few, she lost many.”rn—Thomas MorernMAY 1993/23rnrnrn