Your STV vote: Netherlands 2017

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

[8] CDA
[7] ChristenUnie
[10] D66
[2] Forum for Democracy
[9] Pirate Party
[1] PVV
[4] SGP
[3] SP
[5] VoorNederland
[6] VVD

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

[8] CDA
[7] ChristenUnie
[10] D66
[2] Forum for Democracy
[9] Pirate Party
[1] PVV
[4] SGP
[3] SP
[5] VoorNederland
[6] VVD

SP at #3? Your politics are similar to mine nowadays, and while I sympathize with Roemer, the fact of the matter is that this is not America and our welfare state is already huge. The party also votes along with PvdA and GL on matters regarding immigration all the time, despite not being vocal about it because their base don't like it.

My knowledge of recent Dutch politics is very limited. My impression was that the SP was still a party of the anti-globalization left, as it was when Agnes Kant was leader.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

My knowledge of recent Dutch politics is very limited. My impression was that the SP was still a party of the anti-globalization left, as it was when Agnes Kant was leader.

Yeah, this is the story foreign media always come up with, and I don't know how often I've had to dispel the fiction that the SP are against mass immigration or somehow different than their counterparts in other Western European countries. Gastarbeid en Kapitaal, written in the 80s, was critical of immigration, but since the SP entered parliament in the 1990s they have always voted along with the other left-wing parties when it comes to immigration, integration and crime. In 2006, the SP did not win 26 seats on a platform of less immigration: they rather employed the tactic of being silent about the issue (they know their base doesn't like what they do) and if asked about it attribute all disparities between Dutch and immigrants to socio-economic inequality. Not convincing to someone like me and, I would think, to someone like you. They can come back when they genuinely become critical of immigration. Other than that they are, indeed, part of the anti-globalization left, but if that means opening the borders to all of the third world and erasing our culture anyway, then I'm having none of it.

Sad! I appreciate the correction.