Questions about how foreign leaders would vote in November election--if they could--have become prominent. Some might even like it if we just go to the United Nations and ask for a show of hands. With all the glee among Democrats about how foreign leaders fear/loathe Bush and want Kerry to win, it seems important to remind ourselves of Jan Peter Balkenende.
It is not surprising that the Dutchman is more conservative-friendly. The low countries have always been a place where you could go to speak and think freely. Voltaire may have been claimed by France, for example, but he did most of his thinking in the Netherlands. And Amsterdam is headquarters for more american business than any other city in the region, with good reason. Unlike most of its neighbors, the Dutch are much more conservative. The most objective measure of how 'liberal' a country is, in my opinion, is what fraction of a nation's GDP is government. In France, this number is about 53%. In North Korea, it's officially 100%. By comparison, that of the US (and UK as well) is something like 30%. Holland's is a respectable 40%. Spain? 38%. Evidence of the true conservativism of the Dutch-Flemish is suggested in many ways. The legalization of prostitution, for example. It's a business, why let the leftist/moralists run them out of town? Legalize it, regulate it, let it become part of the GDP. Similarly, tolerance for cannabis suggests real respect for the conservatism I like to think describes my own conservatism. I lived and worked in Amsterdam back in 2002, and enjoyed my stay immensely, for many reasons. One reason was the willingness of the Dutch people to discuss politics openly. No apologies. No silly white-man's guilt. Bring up that the Dutch transported 2.7 million Africans to the Americas (far more than any other nation) and they'll say, "Ja, wat ist de probleem?" Yes, what's the big deal? But if you bring up Jean-Marie LePen to a Frenchman he'll say he's humiliated to be French quicker than a Massachusetts Moralist would disown George Bush.
Bush meets today in the Oval Office with the Dutch prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, whose country has contributed 1,100 troops to the occupation of Iraq. John Hassell of the Newark Star-Ledger writes that Balkenende said yesterday that "more cooperation between Europe and the United States -- not less -- is necessary to defeat al Qaeda, which is suspected of mounting the deadly attacks in Madrid last week." Daniel Williams reports in The Washington Post that Britain, Italy, Poland -- and yes, the Netherlands -- are among the European countries remaining steadfast with Bush on Iraq.
Naar voren brengen! (Bring it on!)
I have always liked Holland.
