John Hinderaker in a recent powerline blog talked about Netherland’s politics and how it resembles what we see here. Hinderaker reported, “Politics in the Netherlands have been increasingly contentious of late. The most recent coalition government fell earlier this month, and now Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag has not only resigned her post, but says she might be leaving the country,” Now the key issue is why and maybe the European media noted, “Just two years ago, she was the great hope of Dutch politics, a cosmopolitan voice of reason, who made unprecedented gains for liberals by taking on the country’s far-right populists.” The message here is that voice of reason are the progressive voices and the voice to fear are the far-right populists.
As the media report continues, “The prospect of her departure, after being hailed as a champion for the traditional Dutch liberal consensus, comes as the country’s security services warn that growing “anti-institutional extremism” poses a new threat to society…In 2021, Kaag represented a different path for the Netherlands after winning an unprecedented and surprise election performance, with her socially progressive, pro-European and welcoming to refugees Democrats 66 party, netting their best ever results.”
The media report goes further when the reporter noted, “One notable fault-line in Dutch politics has become environmental policies, with an insurgent rural movement against plans to cut nitrogen emission in agriculture to meet European Union climate change targets…The populist farmers’ party, the BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB), has come from nowhere a year ago to become the second largest Dutch political party and probable kingmaker of a new government.” And what does the “far right” fear? The impact of the Dutch government war on nitrogen and its impact on farming industry, phenomenally successful and the war on Netherlands livestock and the world second largest food exporter. The parliament plan to eliminate half of the livestock numbers, promoted major protests from farmers and formation of a political movement. So as John Hinderaker notes, “So trying to destroy the country’s biggest industry is perfectly reasonable, while opposing that destruction is “extreme.” That is the upside world we live in, destroy a profitable industry is reasonable and, in the process, reducing exports could mean starvation for those who depends on these exports but protecting those industry is “extreme.” What this shows is what I wrote recently, the idiocy of our leadership class and Europe leadership class is equally full of idiocy like their American counterpart.
The climate change debate shows the problem with the green policies as they entail the destruction of agriculture but also in ability to increase building projects that will help alleviate housing storage and congestion on the roads as many of these building plans are being protested by environmentalist.
John Hinderaker discusses which of the present values are closer to being correct, the progressive enlightened liberal thoughts or the “far right populist views” and concludes,” But whose version of reality is the right one? Certainly not the version that says we should kill half our livestock, stop fertilizing our fields, stop constructing buildings and highways, all while welcoming infinite numbers of immigrants from underdeveloped countries, so that we can impoverish ourselves with unreliable energy that will have zero measurable impact on the Earth’s climate…The fundamental problem the world’s liberals are experiencing is precisely that their crazy plans are bumping up against reality.” He is right, it is the leftist leadership class view of the world that is wrong and much of what “far right populist” is closer to the truth.
The Donelson Files 