![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Today, we vote
Sep. 12th, 2012 09:25 amThe Dutch low house (Tweede Kamer) is elected once every four years, or as soon as a reasonable period has passed since the low house fell apart. As we in the Netherlands have a lot of different parties, no single party can get a majority in the low house like in other countries. This means that several parties have to work together in a coalition. And this also means that if the coalition falls apart, so does the government.
This happens a lot.
Ever since I got the vote at my eighteenth birthday, not a single low house has filled their period of four years. None of them made it to the end.
It's getting kind of old. I dislike politics, the media circus that surrounds it, and the ego of the people in it. They all think they have the wisdom to lead a country, and because the other guy holds a different opinion than their own, the other guy must be wrong. Cue shouting. Cue political one-liners.
Still, I'm a leftie. I believe that we should take care of the less fortunate and that by spending money as a government, people will follow and the economy should get better too. By being tight-fisted and taking money away from the people, they in turn will have to be careful where to spend their money. And yes, I do realise that we don't have a lot of money to spend at the moment, so it is a matter of "where do we get it?" but I believe there are people enough in this country who can afford to pay a little more taxes without having to skip on important stuff like dinner or welfare.
For the first time since we're together, NoKey and I will not be voting together. It was quite the fifties feel; walking hand-in-hand to cast our hard-earned votes.
After today, the circus will go back to their own town, fight over who will work with whom, what the coalition will look like (hey, I vote for all the lefties together. Geert Wilders will be insufferable as opposition, but at least he'll get the mike time he so desperately wants!)
Politics. It's so definitely not my thing. But please vote. Vote today, vote next year, vote every time you can!
This happens a lot.
Ever since I got the vote at my eighteenth birthday, not a single low house has filled their period of four years. None of them made it to the end.
It's getting kind of old. I dislike politics, the media circus that surrounds it, and the ego of the people in it. They all think they have the wisdom to lead a country, and because the other guy holds a different opinion than their own, the other guy must be wrong. Cue shouting. Cue political one-liners.
Still, I'm a leftie. I believe that we should take care of the less fortunate and that by spending money as a government, people will follow and the economy should get better too. By being tight-fisted and taking money away from the people, they in turn will have to be careful where to spend their money. And yes, I do realise that we don't have a lot of money to spend at the moment, so it is a matter of "where do we get it?" but I believe there are people enough in this country who can afford to pay a little more taxes without having to skip on important stuff like dinner or welfare.
For the first time since we're together, NoKey and I will not be voting together. It was quite the fifties feel; walking hand-in-hand to cast our hard-earned votes.
After today, the circus will go back to their own town, fight over who will work with whom, what the coalition will look like (hey, I vote for all the lefties together. Geert Wilders will be insufferable as opposition, but at least he'll get the mike time he so desperately wants!)
Politics. It's so definitely not my thing. But please vote. Vote today, vote next year, vote every time you can!
