toe the line 復習
内閣改造で入閣しなかった石破茂前地方創生相は３日、今後の安倍政権との関わり合いについて言及しました。
After reshuffle, Ishiba makes noise about succeeding Abe
In an apparent challenge to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, ruling party heavyweight Shigeru Ishiba said he will refuse to meekly remain silent if he disagrees with the policies of the reshuffled Cabinet.
Ishiba, who was state minister in charge of regional revitalization in the previous Cabinet but declined any position in the new Abe government formed on Aug. 3, said the same day that lawmakers must not be afraid to express their opinions.
“If the public regards some policies as wrong, and no members of the Liberal Democratic Party express objections, then it is no good,” said Ishiba, who hopes to succeed Abe as party president and prime minister.
Political sources say a number of LDP members have simply toed the line on Abe’s plans, fearing possible punishment from the party leadership.
“Depriving lawmakers of a chance to assume important posts or alienating them from those posts because they expressed their opinions is something that has nothing to do with the public,” Ishiba said on a TV program of Nippon Television Network Corp. “The LDP must not be a party that moves based only on such thinking by the Diet members.”
Ishiba also said he wants to “think about various things” concerning the policies he would adopt if he becomes prime minster.
Abe’s term as LDP president expires in 2018.
Ishiba, who won the first round of the LDP presidential election in 2012 but lost to Abe in the runoff, indicated he would visit local party organizations to prepare for the 2018 poll.
“I will gather the voices of some conservative people who are dissatisfied that proposals other than those made by the prime minister are not emerging from the LDP,” Ishiba said in an Aug. 3 meeting with Yuji Yamamoto, the new farm minister. “By doing so, I want to realize diversity in the party.”
Yamamoto is a member of the intraparty faction headed by Ishiba.
Abe played down the rivalry with Ishiba, saying the LDP’s main focus is responding to public trust in the party shown in the ruling coalition’s victory in the July 10 Upper House election.
“I am convinced that he will cooperate with us,” Abe said.
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201608040027.html
今回取り上げる表現は、“toe the line”です。『ウィズダム英和辞典』(第３版、三省堂)を引いたところ、「指示[期待]通りに行動する；(党・集団の)方針に従う」とありました。
LDOCEには、“to do what other people in a job or organization say you should do, whether you agree with them or not”と定義されていました。
日本語にも「足並みを揃える」という言葉があります。少しニュアンスは異なりますが、似たような成り立ちの言葉ではないかと思いました。(Blue Sky)
今回の表現は以前にも取り上げられております。ご覧ください。
