After Thanksgiving Thoughts

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Two days of food!  Oh, the pain, the pain.  But it was worth it.  Camera Girl was pleased with her feast and her guests.  She said it was the best Thanksgiving ever.  And I have to agree.  It was untroubled.  The food was excellent.  The guests were merry and amiable and the activities and conversation were enjoyable.  In all ways it was excellent.  And now we have the holiday season.  From now till Christmas time will fly.

So, while we’re enjoying (or cursing) the orgy of buying and preparation, we can reflect a little on the year that is just about over.  What did 2023 entail?

Maybe the most surprising thing about it was just how lousy it was for Joe Biden.  Regardless of whether the powers-that-be, by hook or by crook, can pull him over the finish line in November, it is pretty obvious that even his “voters” think he is garbage.  His approval rating is somewhere between thirty and forty percent.  And the first thirty percent would vote for Jack the Ripper if he has that “D” before his name.  That’s pretty amazing.

Of course, I think part of this has to do with the Democrat constituency.  The current situation with the Gaza War is a good example.  A good chunk of the Democrat voters is squarely on the side of Hamas and little things like Hamas followers disemboweling pregnant women or beheading infants aren’t going to change that.  So, if Joe Biden is seen to help the Israelis, he loses these folks.  These are what are known as one-issue-voters.  And although Jewish voters by and large vote Democrat, sharing a coalition with the Hamas-lovers surely must give many Jewish Democrats pause.  And that is good.  It’s important for people to confront the compromises that they make in their lives.  Watching videos of middle-easterners in Brooklyn screaming about burning Jews must be clarifying for Jewish New Yorkers who have defended the Moslems in America since 9-11-2001.  It might even lead them to question the validity of their political identity.

I think we all should be as realistic as possible about the choices we make.  I know that I’ve been thinking lately about where the line is drawn between acceptable and unacceptable positions by “my side.”  Hate for the sake of hate is a pretty ugly thing.  All of the talk about the incompatibility of different ethnic groups and identities gets overblown.  And most of the blame for that is on the Left for sure.  Once you start treating “protected groups” differently and encouraging criminal behavior, a reaction is bound to happen.

But the cure for discrimination isn’t reverse discrimination as has been amply demonstrated by the failures of affirmative action.  It’s scrupulous adherence to just laws and the basic decencies that a Christian society already provides for the less able.  I don’t see any clash between racial harmony and strict compliance with law and order.  In fact, I think it’s only by eliminating criminal behavior in the inner city that you provide the possibility of lessening poverty.  Before 2008 and Obama’s attempts to create race hatred, crime statistics in the urban areas were at a generational low.  The property values in places like Harlem were astronomical.  The only problem is that this could only exist with a Republican mayor and a law-and-order police commissioner.

But I digress.

As I was saying, Joe Biden is not a popular fellow and I think that gives us something to think about going into 2024.  Is the Democrat voting machine so “reinforced for democracy” that it can get even a stink bomb like Biden elected or will something else happen.  Will they replace him?  Can they replace him?  Will he lose?

Something to think about.

What Could Be Achieved in the Netherlands

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In yesterday’s election, Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) were able to get the largest number of seats in the Dutch House of Representatives.  Current estimate with 94% of the vote counted is 37 out of 150 seats.  Of course, they’ll need at least 76 seats to form a governing coalition.  So where does that leave them?

The PVV is at heart an anti-immigrant party.  Their stated goal is to prevent the influx of Islamic immigrants and their culture and religion.  But in general, they are a nationalist party.  Wilders would love to pull the Netherlands out of the EU but knows that isn’t going to happen in his lifetime.  In terms of domestic policy, they are not libertarian but sort of average euro-socialist.  And from what I’ve read they don’t buy into the green agenda.

I went on-line and did some check into the orientation of the various parties that were likely to share at least some agenda with the PVV and found these numbers.

Party Orientation Seats
PVV Center-right 37
VVD center-right 24
CDA far-right 5
BBB Right-wing 7
FvD far-right 3
SGP Right-wing 3
JA21 Right-wing 1
BVNL Right-wing 0
Total 80

So, there is a bare minimum for a coalition on the “right.”

 

Up until the election the next largest party on “the right” VVD had expressly ruled out working with the PVV.  Of course, after the results of yesterday’s election, the leader of that party, Dilan Yeşilgöz has backed off that sentiment and sounds like there might be something to talk about.

Now this is interesting.  Up until now, major European political organizations have been consistent in refusing to form coalitions with “far-right” parties.  Specifically, France and Germany have been adamant on this point.  But the PVV is now the largest party in terms of representation in the Dutch House of Representatives.  We may finally have reached the tipping point, where ostracizing the right no longer works.  That’s what’s about to come out.  If Wilders can convince the other non-leftist parties that he is pragmatic he might just break the blockade that has kept the “far-right” out of the kitchen.

Well, well, well.  Seems to me that if Wilders is willing to rule by only reaching for what everyone in his coalition can agree to, he can at least prevent any more damage from being done.  And I’m guessing if he is shrewd and willing to do a lot of horse-trading, he can reverse some of the craziest things that have been done lately.  The greatest good would be to reverse all this insane attack on the farming industry in the name of not offending the gods of greenhouse gas emissions.

From what I know of the Dutch, which isn’t much, they have a goodly share of crazed enviro-warriors who are willing to empty the world of human beings in order to please Gaia.  So, I assume Wilders has his work cut out for him.  But between the immigration problems and the green nightmare it’s good to see that a goodly 25% of the Dutch are starting to wake up from the woke trance and realize they need to start facing reality.

So, it wouldn’t be realistic to think that this election is some kind of panacea for all the ills that this small European nation suffers from.  Like our election of Donald Trump in 2016 it’s just the first spasm of the drowning body politic in its attempt to reach the surface and breath fresh air.  It will take a lot more to finally swim back to dry land.  How’s that for a tortured metaphor!