TheFinancieele Dagblad did a two-page interview (6/1/23) with econometrician Jeroen Kremers, (65), former top civil servant and supervisor: "As a supervisor, you have to make it feel that you're willing to go for the conflict" and "the government stings." I hold it up to the light.
Market forces
Kremers believes that the exercise of authority by the central especially in the last decade has become much less. There is, according to him, a wrong approach to "multi-market operation." Leaving more to the market requires precisely a strong government.That seems correct to me: you can allow more market forces, provided the government is willing and able to intervene rigorously where necessary. But one of the side effects of the policy pursued is that politicians and officials have started using it as an excuse to do nothing and to say: that is the market and we are not in charge. Again spot on from Kremers.
Government-contra the citizen
Another aspect of Dutch culture, according to Kremers, is that we find support for policy very important. But we must be careful as a government not to surrender our position of responsibility to that support, because then we forget that we have a responsibility for the country, according to Kremers. I think he puts his finger on the sore spot here. The government and government present badly. There are indeed legion examples of this. Think of immigration policy, housing policy, care etcetera. Think also of the allowance affair, Groningen. I think the citizen sees this and disapproves: the government is not only not working for me, no, the government is working against me! The result is the breakdown of democracy and the rule of law. The breakdown of the rule of law is not what Wilders advocates. The breakdown of the constitutional state is the result of decades of poor performance by the government and governments. Just read the books and texts of ProfPim Fortuyn. Even then, citizens understood that this is where the shoe pinches. The Englishman then says to Omtzigt: "you are barking up the wrongtree!" Omtzigt himself was there as a CDAer when the rule of law was broken down and did not utter a sound. Kremers, however, does not go so far as to observe this.
Student revolt
Why is it that government is so lazy (Kremers) and has no authority and takes no responsibility? In my opinion it is because of the breakdown of authority in the 1960s, the violent Student Revolt and cultural Marxism, is still palpable, as described extensively inKafkaistan. I also described it on DDS "This is why people vote right." He should read DDS. On top of that, citizens have become more empowered andaggressive in the face of an extremely "soft" government. Moreover, we are thought to be especially tolerant, empathetic and woke, to the death of word repression. The downfall of the Netherlands is the result.
Neoliberal?
Kremers calls the policies pursued "neoliberal. That is nonsense. Government spending has virtually doubled in the Rutte period. The government is omni present, but weak in authority and extremely poor in performance. Count your winnings as a citizen with such a government that is wasteful with taxpayer money. I would have liked to have heard fromKremers that the absurdly increased number of civil servants must be reduced. But that is perhaps too much to ask of a top civil servant.....
PVV win
Kremers' father is a co-founder ofthe CDA. He himself is no longer a member of the CDA and considers this party "end of practice. Kremer will not say what he voted for because it was D66.At the conclusion of the interview, he says that we should ask why so many citizens voted for PVV. That is the wrong question. The question should be why citizens have not voted PVV for so long in the face of such a disastrously performing government and administration. I recently gave Sigrid Kaag as an example of this, she left as vice prime minister and minister of finance while the cabinet is still operational. The answer to the aforementioned question must be that citizens have been fooled for a very long time with fine words and promises that were never kept. Again came the next promise: "it will be alright," Mark Rutte was a master at that. I attribute this to the profile of Mark Rutte: knowledge of the file, fleu de bouche, good looks, grin, the seven check marks. Rutte was the master of lying and deception. Chaos is now the result. Voters are also party loyal: "my family always votes VVD, so I do too." Voting PVV then feels like betraying the family, group behavior. Wilders can sometimes go on a strong rant and the average dear citizen is a bit shocked by that, rather not. Until the jug bursts and that is now.
Intelligent sucker
Jeroen Kremers' question: we need to find out why people voted PVV so massively indicates that he apparently has no idea why this happened. Did the gains then fall out of the sky? No, of course not. ProfPim Fortuyn preceded Geert Wilders. Didn't teach him and others like him anything. There are even idiots who blame the right for our decline, "oh, I see, it was my fault!" (Fawlty Towers). Kremers is an intelligent man,yet oh so stupid. He has apparently been under a rock for decades,elitist and D66. The Netherlands is in tatters and he doesn't understand why citizens don't vote for parties that took care of it and don't take any responsibility for it. What a sad loser!
Frits Bosch is an economist and sociologist. He is also the author of "Risk as Obsession," "That's the Risk," "World at a Turning Point," "Discontent among the Elite," "Does the Netherlands Also Abolish Itself?" and "Feminism in the Workplace." His most recent book is Kafkaistan.
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