I have a really hard time deciding who to vote for in the European Parlaimentary elections, if i'm going to vote at all.
There are 17 parties participating in the elections, 6 of them (mostly the larger ones), are in a combination with another party.
*THE UGLY*
-the new and the extreme
First there are the new parties like Solidara, Libertas and so on, they make up list 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17. None of them suit me, either because they are too far on the left, too far on right, or too green and I'm not an extremist, nor an environmentalist. It is because of those reasons, that I'm also not going to vote for PVV (because Wilders is a right-wing extremist), De Groenen, Groenlinks (environmentalist extremists), SP (former commies), which leaves out 4, 5, 13 and 14.
-the opportunists
EKP is a party that was founded because some people wanted to fight corruption in the European Parliament, while corruption is rampant in the EP and I also want it gone, I'm still not going for them. Here is why, last time that party was lead by an orthodox christian, this time it is being lead by a former Fortuynist (former member of Pim Fortuyn (i.e. the right extremist gay guy who got assassinated) and former checkers champion who my dad knows from his youth and he has told me the guy is brilliant but insane, so I'm really not going to vote for them either, so that leaves out number 12.
-the nonsense
Partij voor de Dieren are animal rights activists and ergo a nonsense party which i'm defenitely not going to vote for, so that leaves out number 11. If these animal rights activists wanted to be consequent thinkers, they would send a cow or a pig in the EP and not themselves.
-the religious nutters
CDA, ChristenUnie-SGP are christian parties and since I'm an atheist, I'm not going to vote for either of them, so that leaves out 1 and 6.
-the other
Then there is D66, they are too pragmatic and have no good agenda, they're basically there, because they want to stop Wilders. That's not a good enough reason and they will surely fail anyway.
*THE BAD*
So what have we left? Parties 2 and 3 are PvdA (Labour = social democrats) and VVD (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy = liberal conservatives, if there is such a thing). There are 13 people on list 2 (PvdA) and 30 on list 3 (VVD).
-right?
Lets start with the VVD or list 3, I'm not going to vote for a woman, as I did that before and it always turns out to be a pisspoor choice (nothing against women in particular just female politicians), so that crosses out 7 on that list. I'm not going to vote for someone who lives in the wealthier communities, or the Dutch equivalent of Beverly hills, they do not know me or care about me and vice versa, so that crosses out an other 8 on the list. I'm not going to vote for someone who lives outside of the Netherlands, mostly for the same reasons as with the wealthy communities, most of them live in Belgium (so they're basically there to evade taxes), so that crosses out another 4 on the list, which brings us down to 11 left on the list.
The number 1on the list is a well known politician and he has done some good effort for the NATO alliance, which would be a good thing to have in the EP were it not that this guy has questionable ethics and a bad background. He was a right extremist in his youth and I suspect him of having taken bribes in the decision to vote in favor of the JSF, so i'm defenitely not going to vote for him. So that brings us down to 10. Of the 10 who are left on the list, there is one from the hague and he is there because he's a "hasbeen" politician and i'm not going to vote for those kind of people. There is another person of maroccan descent from amsterdam who is on the list because they need an allochtonous face, while i have nothing against maroccans, i cannot vote for that guy, for said reason.
I'm now down to 8 who are left. The guy who is actually from the same town as me, I know from some years ago. He is your typical fraternity brat gone into local politics with daddy's help and i'm sorry to say he is a total a-hole. So I'm not going to vote for that guy. Of the 7 who are left, there are 2 with connections in the construction business (i.e. suspect of participating in the secret balancebook scandal), another 2 with connections to sellout of national industries (Air France/KLM for example), another 2 with connections to international gambling. Those 6 people are therefore all corrupt, or at least have some really questionable ethics. The 1 guy who is left appears to be a cousin of a well known former Fortuynist and now member of the PVV (that can't be good), at first he appears to be clean, but then I find he does have the wrong connections with the sellout of industries, though not directly, but at least must have had particpatory role and that brings this list down to 0.
-or left?
Next is the PvdA. Dutch Labour has the unfortunate policy were it is required to have an equal number women and men in the list. Since the number of members on the list is an odd number, there is this time one more man on the list than there are women on the list. Ergo 6 are crossed out for the same reason as mentioned with the VVD and i'm not even going to bother doublechecking here, if i might have been too strict.
Of the 7 men who are left, there are 3 connected to the number 1 on the list. They are all buddies of eachother and they known eachother of the time when they went to college/university. They are a northern clique, but unfortunately one who are thoroughly incompetent. Most of them fall into category of the extreme left, they have poorly laid out plans and most of them are connected to unnuanced papers and magazines. So that leaves out another 4 on the list, which brings us down to 3.
Of the 3 who are left, one is another "hasbeen" and not one who was actually any good, let alone well known in the media, another one got on this list, because he couldn't get into local politics (that can't be good), locally he would have to fight PVV and he hasn't even bothered trying to fight them. I can't vote for such a whimp. So now there is 1 guy left. He is a union member (ok that's a good thing), he is not extreme (anther good thing), but unfortunately he is total dummy with no good schooling or anything.
*THE GOOD???*
OK so now I'm down to 0. Now what do I do? Not vote, or vote for someone who is:
A an extremist
B an opportunist
C corrupt
D "hasbeen"/ "grandpa"/ "bye bye to brussels"/ "going to meet his funeral sooner than later"
E incompetent
I think, I'm not going vote this year.
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Originally Posted by civic
