And so the Netherlands finally laid to rest the myth that it is a country of tolerance and liberalism, writes Kaj Leers.

With the onset of what is probably the most conservative, right-wing government since World War II, the country takes a step back to the days of the 1950s, when it was neatly divided between ‘us’ and ‘them’.
The Netherlands was never really a country of much tolerance or liberalism. More than anything, the ‘Dutch Model’ of co-existence was an armistice between different views on society. As long as each group benefited in some way, the fragile armistice was kept in place.
The Dutch, always on the look-out for coin, even managed to turn the armistice into a financial advantage, monetizing tolerance by legalizing prostitution and allowing the sale of soft drugs.
In a way, the emergence of the minority government of free market conservatives (VVD), Christian democrats (CDA), and supported by the right-wing PVV of Geert Wilders, is a declaration of cultural war. It is an erect middle finger aimed squarely at those who have been in control since the social upheavals of the late 1960s.
In an increasingly complex world, angry white males increasingly want simple solutions. They want to end the endless compromising that is part and parcel of the Dutch ‘Poldermodel’ system of governance. For years the coalition government model meant that those who voted out the parties would always see at least one of those parties return in the next coalition government. As a result, real changes never came as the party naturally blocked changes to unpopular policies it had implemented while in the previous government.
The angry white males want it all changed, they want it now, and the incoming government is delivering.
Smoking in small cafes is no longer prohibited. The speed limit is to be pushed up to 130 kilometers an hour while the police will be instructed ease up on the speeding tickets. The burqa is to be prohibited. Head scarves are to be prohibited when working for the police or in the courts. (Note that only head scarves are to be prohibited: no word on paraphernalia that symbolize other religions, such as crucifixes or yarmulkes.)
Immigration will be severely curbed, so much so that the Netherlands risks breaking international treaties on refugees and asylum. (They are to be renegotiated if possible.) It will become even harder for immigrants to move their spouse here. The arts, described by many an angry white male as a ’leftist hobby’, will see subsidies cut. The police force is to be expanded by adding 3000 new officers.
International development aid expenditure will be cut severely; peace missions by armed forces in developing nations will also be paid from this budget from now on, instead of being financed by the Defense ministry. Money should go to alleviating poverty in the Netherlands, not somewhere else, the angry white male states.
It is not hard to see a point in that. There are ghettos in the Netherlands where poverty rates have always been very high, with streets boarded up, rampant crime and social isolation and entire families living there, themselves completely reliant on dwindling welfare benefits. Those families find it hard to swallow that asylum seekers get a house and welfare benefits ‘without ever having done anything to earn all that’, as the angry white male fumes through gritted teeth. As the late Pim Fortuyn once famously bristled: “These people have had enough. Enough!”
Those people hit back, and the result is a tidal wave of right-wing change on cultural issues, not so much on socioeconomic ones. That was a mistake the center-right governments of Jan Peter Balkenende made.
His first two governments also rode in atop a wave of right-wing change, but his reforms were heavy on socioeconomic issues, such as reform of the health care system, which resulted in most care becoming more expensive, and unpopular reforms on social security.
As a result, the free market reformers of the VVD and the liberal D66 were trounced at the polls in 2006 while Balkenende hung onto power through sheer brilliance of his campaign team, luck and moronic mistakes by the main opposition party.
The new minority government doesn’t just meet Archie Bunker half-way, it is sitting right there on the couch alongside him, cursing at the televised images, agreeing to just about every one of Archie’s rants while not emptying his wallet – yet. Many changes, such as drastic cuts and reforms on welfare, will only slowly be implemented, hitting their high in 2020 – provided later governments won’t roll back the changes.
Mark Rutte, the incoming Prime Minister and leader of the VVD, is confident that his fragile minority government will be a success. Yet the Senate elections are on March 2 of next year and right now, Rutte’s coalition government doesn’t have a majority.
He had better realize the nature of the beast he’s dealing with on that couch. His government must deliver, or Archie’s rage will swing to the other side real hard.
Kaj Leers is a financial journalist and part-time political commentator