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Dec. 11, 2004 There´s an old saying that goes like this: ´When you´re not a leftist at the age of 18, you don´t have a heart. But, when you´re not in favour of the right at the age of 40, you don´t have a mind.´ Taken this saying into account, things are going the wrong way for me, so it seems. I was a supporter of the right at the age of 18, but have moved to the left since then and am not even considering to go back to the right again. When I was 18, I thought it logical one should not keep up one´s hand. I agreed with the conservative movement (in Dutch politics: the liberals) that says government is only there for protecting its citizens, making sure the infrastructure works, the economy works and that matters of work and welfare are to be realised by the free market system. But I realised very soon this political point of view doesn´t work. Government has to interfere into matters like the environment, health care, social benefits etc. One can´t expect the free market solves all these questions itself. Of course, governmental interference must be limited. I´m not talking about a Marxist revolution, although Karl Marx´ ideas were not all that foolish. However, such a revolution would never work in the first place, because people will never be ready to share all plants and factories there are. But thanks to Marx´ ideas, the social position of the working men has risen the past century. That´s an important reason why the Western world has been able to become richer and richer. The past decade, I´ve committed myself to the Dutch environmental party when it came to voting. They are on the left side of the political spectrum. The environment is the new victim of liberal policies. Just look at what happens to the rain forests, the pollution of the air and the soil. Mankind can´t expand economic activity endlessly or create endless highways without paying a too high price for it. Unfortunately, too less people are aware of that, especially those who have the power to do something against this development. The right parties will never pay enough attention to this. The left do. Just like with human rights questions. Something I would like to mention at least, being an active member of Amnesty International (no, that´s not a leftist organisation. Amnesty is a-political). I expect more of the left than the right. I may be wrong in the end (although it´s not very likely ´my´ party will join any government soon, so how could I find out?), but can´t defend it to myself anymore to vote for the right. The current Dutch (right) government proves it every day. ------------ About the author: Johan Peters works as a parttime (chief) editor and webmaster with an organisation for disabled people in the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Furthermore, he is a freelance journalist and has written two books in the year of 2004. One is about the commercial BDSM scene in The Netherlands and Belgium (which will be published in the month of December 2004). The other is about the difficulties physically disabled people experience with relationships and sexuality (which will be released spring 2005). He is now thinking about writing a new book that has got nothing to do with sex. It will be about famous Dutch artists who have come at age and look back at their life. This project must start January 2005. Read more about it on www.johanpeters.net (partly in English). Email Johan Peters: johan.peters@johanpeters.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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