The World According to Greg Shapiro
Temporary Monarchy
3 sept., 2010
When 3 months go by with no coalition, it gets you thinking: is there something wrong with the system? This is a democracy, we did have an election… why is everything since the election so UN-democratic? The whole coalition process is behind closed doors & mediated by the queen… why bother having elections at all?
Here are a few ideas on how Nederland could do things differently:
- Let people vote 3x in the general election. You vote for your 3 favorite parties. Count em all up, and the parties with the most votes = The New Coalition.
Time elapsed: 3 days.
- After the general election, fill up the Tweede Kamer with the winners of the new seats and let THEM vote. You can vote 2x and not for your own party. The quickest combination of parties to reach a majority (76) = The New Coalition.
Time elapsed: 1 week.
- Try to get everybody to agree on everything, behind closed doors, mediator appointed by an unelected monarch.
Time elapsed: 83 days and counting…
Especially when Prinsjesdag – Budget Day – is 3 weeks away, it really gets you thinking. How long can this country go on with no government? How long until the Queen pulls some strings and knocks some heads and says ‘Enough! – you HAVE to form a coalition with whatever we’ve got on the table?’ I expect that is what will happen. Soon.
Prinsjesdag is right around the corner! The Queen has to have a budget to present, when she rides her golden coach in the parade through The Hague… Come to think of it, why do we let the Queen ride around carrying the annual budget? Why does she get to read the national agenda that she didn’t prepare? …because we’re grooming her for the day when we can’t make up our minds, and she has to take over!
If this country doesn’t get its act together in the next 3-5 days, maybe we’d be better off with a Monarchy. Shocking? Face it, Nederland. The system you’ve got right now is ain’t that democratic, and it’s closer to a monarchy than you’d like to think.
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CDA/PVV/WTF
2 sept 2010
Are we finally ready to make a Cabinet yet? After the ups & downs of the last 48 hours, maybe so. The Christian Democrats have torn themselves apart over the moral & practical concerns regarding an alliance with Geert Wilders & the anti-Islam PVV. Morally, it’s nice to see that there are some Christian Democrats who really believe in the Democratic side of Christianity… the Dutch style of Christianity: tolerant Christianity. Morally, even being ‘supported’ by Geert Wilders in a Minority government was going too far.
Morality is nice, but the real objection from half of CDA was practical. Apparently, the whole alliance is based upon a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ that Geert Wilders will indeed support CDA & VVD in Parliament
…and that Geert Wilders will not do any of the following:
- complain about CDA’s tolerant policies to the media
- sabotage any CDA policies by mouthing off to the media
- leak letters of objection to CDA’s policies to the media.
Basically, they’re asking Geert Wilders to NOT be Geert Wilders.
Hence, CDA Nr. 2 Ab Klink leaked his own letter of objection to the press. BUT now Nr. 2 has been replaced by Nr. 1 Maxime Verhagen, and they’re again stumbling forward.
As Barack Obama prepares Peace Negotiations in the Middle East – and the Netherlands edges ever closer to ‘Budget Day’ 21 september with no Cabinet – perhaps we should all put more stock in diplomacy. Don’t forget Maxime Verhagen was Minister of Foreign Affairs, ie Diplomat-in-Chief. After crafting a new consensus over the last 48 hours, maybe Verhagen deserves to be Prime Minister.
As the Christians would say, let us have faith. Let us have faith that the Middle East can change its ways. Let us have faith that Geert Wilders can behave himself like a real politician. And let us have faith that – when that doesn’t happen and the coalition inevitably implodes – we’ll be holding elections again before the end of 2011.
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CDAaaaaaagh, Not Again!
1 sept, 2010
Again with the crumbling formation talks… Now the latest combination: VVD, CDA (&PVV) looks doomed to failure. After weeks of debate within CDA (‘can we be in a coalition with Islam-haters?’) Christian Democrat leader Maxime Verhagen and his Nr. 2 Ab Klink have now had a public falling-out, and it looks like the Christians are out of the picture.
Backward, Christian Soldiers! CDAinternal talks continue today.
Tobe continued…
.
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Ons Soort Mensen
31 august, 2010
One thing is good for practicing your Dutch: leave the country. Leave the country and go to a campsite in the south of France. Guaranteed: there will be nothing but a little bit of French – and a lot of Dutch. Even on the drive down to France, you can hear Dutch at every rest stop. It’s coming from the families with the camper-vans (aka ‘sleurhutten’) and the bikes on the back (got to have the bikes!) and the Senseo coffee maker packed into the back window.
The campsite where we ended up was a lovely spot, where we’d been tempted to go for years. But it was always full. Finally, we got a spot! Croissants every day, wine with every meal, lovely French countryside - nothing but Dutch-spoken. It felt weird. At the Table d’Hote (finally a French word!) the discussion quickly turned to nothing but work. (As an American, this should feel normal. But I came here to get away from all that.) Entrepeneur, entrepeneur, and one lecturer who gave an unstoppable monologue about how ‘Marlies Dekkers makes the best of the best of lingerie, and everyone who knows anything should wear nothing but the most comfortable’… only problem: the lecturer was a man.
Audi. Audi. Volvo. Audi. Range Rover. Whoops. Now we know why the place is so crowded every summer. Everybody goes there every year. We asked ourselves: ‘what kind of people honestly make their summer plans a year in advance?’ These people, apparently. ‘Oh, I used to live in Amsterdam, but now I live in…’ Bussum. Zeist. Heemstede. Well, I live in Amsterdam. The rough part. I don’t mind if there are OSM’s in my neighborhood. But pretty soon they do tend to take over… Ons soort mensen. Our Kinda People. Homogenous. Apparently, I’m more hetero.
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TheDailyGreg Returns
30 aug, 2010
Welcome back from Summer Holiday. Hello, Winter. Nothing says ‘Back to School’ like 10Celsius & 100% humidity. Yes, I got wet today! We all got wet. But remember: just as soon as you put away your summer clothes… THAT’s when the warm weather will kick in again.
I do love the Netherlands. After visiting France, being surrounded by Brits & then driving back through bizarre-driver Belgium, I breathed an honest sigh of relief upon reaching the Dutch border & Hazeldonk (between Antwerp & Breda).
I’ve had culture shock before. Upon returning to the Netherlands on previous trips, I’ve felt totally surrounded by nothing but huge, Dutch men & women with their high cheekbones and elongated faces & square teeth. I’ve felt like I was waking up in that old Twilight Zone episode, where everyone has distorted faces & treat the normal person as a freak. Sometimes you can go a whole day talking to nothing but carbon copies of Anky van Grunsven – and her horse.
But this time, when I got back to the Netherlands, it was a relief. Partly it was because I had to pee. But it was something else, too. Was it the weather? No. In fact, as soon as we entered the Netherlands again, it started to rain. Was it the fact that that there were road signs? Perhaps. Because Belgium either has too many road signs (‘Turn left for Liege’) (‘aka Luik’) or too few (… … … ‘That was Liege / Luik’). To replace the missing route signs, at least they chuck in an excess of billboards with garish depictions of car crashes. Thanks, Belgium.
Was it the food? Perhaps. Yes, there’s a McDonalds. But there’s also a wok place. That, and ‘La Place.’ Yes, the cuisine in France is unique, and I’m sure Wallonia is very nice, but the restaurant called ‘La Place’ is a real comfort. (Now they even have a pizza oven!)
But the best part about the homecoming was the social set. The rest stop at Hazeldonk was full of students & truckers & interracial couples & little kids & athletes & grandma/grandpas. The Netherlands may be small & crowded, but it’s a nice mix. And I hadn’t even gotten back to Amsterdam.
Vive la difference – Lang leve het verschil!
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