http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2262197.ece/The_Netherlands_is_now_a_polarised_country
http://lewrockwell.com/spl/netherlands-closing-prisons.html
Do you think the Netherlands is a place to watch? What is it like over there? It looks like the freedom movement is gaining momentum over there.
The Netherlands is one of the few places in Europe with no unemployment, although it has high taxes and a generally collectivistic society.
I’m wondering why crime is declining in the Netherlands whereas in Belgium it is on the rise. So the Netherlands might seek a deal to allow the overflow of prisoners in Belgium be put in Netherlands empty cells. That’s an odd economic exchange.
Belgium is a basketcase country. The Wallon side has worse unemployment than France. The Flemish side doesn’t really want to be part of Belgium, but its political oligarchs keep trying to save the state.
The stories don’t mean much to me. Well, it’s interesting that only 35% of the people bother to waste time voting. But the part about prisons is meaningless. What sort of (likely state-created) ‘crimes’ are we talking about ?
LewRockwell.com posted it because apparently the reduction in crime has come from a legalization of drugs.
“The Netherlands Is Closing Prisons for Lack of Criminals
Since ending the drug war.”
Thank you all for your input.
The Netherlands were on the forefront a few years ago when Pim Fortuyn shook political establishment with his openly anti-immigration and anti-UE manifest. He was murdered on the eve of what everybody thought would be an astounding victory for his party by the usual “lone nut”. This murder allowed Dutch politics to get back in line, the usual Socialdemocratic, pro-UE, pro-NATO line. But now the clock has turned. The two main causes of this populistic resurgence are easy to pinpoint. First: the Dutch (as the French) openly and clearly rejected the UE Constitution yet their government ignored this popular referendum and ratified the Lisbon treaty, which is Constitution with a different name. Second, Europe has a very serious immigration problem and governments are incapable (and unwilling) to deal with this problem. Disillusionment, if not downright distrust, is what most Europeans feel toward the EU, yet the colossus growth continues unchecked. Immigration (pretty much unchecked, no matter what Frontex says) is an enormous catastrophe which is exacerbating previous problems like overpopulation and lifestyle decline in many areas.
Problem is Europe is a weary continent and would much prefer somebody else to sort out her problems: yes, we have grown too compliant, too weak and too defenseless. We haven’t got a Ron Paul, we haven’t got a genuine libertarian movement, we don’t even have widespread gun ownership (despite having some of the finest weapon factories in the world like Beretta, a mere ten miles from my home, H&K, FN etc). We just sit there in a stupefied haze like opium smokers. Sometimes we grumble but that’s how far we get. European rulers know they can get away with everything because there’s zero risk of revolt. In fact some persons are even ready to go out and put outspoken critics where they belong (see what happened to Fortuyn and Theo Van Gogh just to stay in The Netherlands) without an order. Let this be a stern warning of things to come to the US, Australia, New Zealand etc.
What about Daniel Hannan?
Ah, but the linked article says nothing about that. It sounds plausible, but it’s not really documented.
On the forefront of what ? Of anti immigration, not of libertarianism.
Yeah but I am willing to bet Holland is another country that subsidizes it, IE ‘political refugees/asylum claims’.
Holland, like most nations in Western Europe, nourishes a steadily growing minority (soon-to-be majority) of Muslim welfare immigrants who not only know how to play the white guilt card, but who also seem to use the tactics of their Arab forebears to conquer nations from within.
Abolishing welfare programs would probably make the ill-intentioned part of the immigrants go by themselves. But how likely is such a solution in the heartland of social democracy?
The Fortuyns and Wilderses of Europe are the natural outcome of such a culture. It has nothing to do with racism; there’s just no better solution available within the generally accepted Schelling Point.
It’s also just about one of the most boring countries in the world. Wooden shoes, tall people and windmills notwithstanding.
Sphairon, immigration is a huge unresolved problem and you are right in pointing out that these populist leaders are nothing but a natural reaction to the unrestrained flood of immigrants that is swamping Europe, exacerbating its many problems. Our immigration politics are an admixture of leftist craziness and right wing lunacy, with the aggravating factor of wanting dirt-cheap labor and someone to hold bag of our State-run retirement scam in the end.: that’s why we get a few hundred souls trapped in detention centers while hundreds of thousand can come as they please. People are getting alarmed by sheer numbers (ie they inconsciously realize this is nothing short of an invasion) but do not know what to do, so they cling to hypocrites like the then French Minister of Internal Affairs, Nicholas Sarkozy, who send police to beat up immigrants in the banlieus and talk big but who do nothing to stem the flow at the source. It’s a huge problem we are hoping to pass on to our children, as usual, because we are too lazy and cowardly to take matters into our hands.
It’s fun if you’re into drugs, Giles.
The fact that Farage and Wilders are said to have gained massively in the recent election is a sign that things are beginning to move. I hope they are moving in the right direction.
Charles Martel knew what to do. That’s your only solution, but it’s been outlawed.
The US is engaged in the same reckless experiment.
I don’t see why, most teenagers can find weed within 10 minutes of being in any major city (OK, perhaps not Bangkok). I know I could.
This is the solution if you ask me:
Booya! The progressive economy succeeds again.
Yeah, this is exactly what I was just thinking. And I could be TOTALLY wrong, but is prostitution legalized over there too? Simply put: it might just be the lack of behavioral laws lowering crime rates.
Pass a law outlawing booze, watch the crime rate skyrocket. etc.
The statist argument (not that I’m making it) against dropping these behavioral laws would probably be based on “increased X bad thing” (deaths, diseases, health care costs, and so on). I’d be interested in seeing some of the other Netherlands statistics as well, or some research on the overall effects (good AND bad). It might turn out to be one of the best arguments we could make for ending stupid behavioral laws.
Netherlands
Unemployment rate:
4.5% (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 56
(rate verified by multiple sources)
No unemployment? Where did you get that (mis)information?
And Hermes, you’re a funny guy. [^o)]
And one more thing-- an economy’s strength isn’t determined by tax rate alone. Regulations and trade barriers are also major factors, and I’d bet that their trade policies are more “free” than most.
