I had dinner with some friends including a Dutch friend and his wife. When the subject came up of how bad politics was and how bad politicians were, I had to call attention to my Dutch friend.
I pointed out that his ancestors in Amsterdam (mine too) were the key people to blame for our current plight; our modern way of thinking and our dislike of real sausage-making politics.
Amsterdam is the source of modern......
Amsterdam is the source of modern democracy. The first genuine republic was in Holland starting in the 1590s. The republic was founded by middleclass, Protestant, business people. All three of those elements are critical to understanding why this particular form of government has been passed down directly to us. That is who we are.
Holland conquered England in 1688 and installed the Dutch king and queen as well as the Dutch tax and financial structures of the government. Today we, descendents of England, make sausage (politics) the same way the Dutch merchant legislators did four hundred years ago.
Trouble is the Dutch also created the modern Enlightenment… the main way we think. Thanks go to Baruch Spinoza, Leibnitz and the great publishing houses of Amsterdam in the 1650s; because of them, we moderns prefer empirical evidence, open scientific debate and rational arguments in the way we think (or believe we think.)
The twin creations of democratic politics and modern rational thought come from the same time and place, a commercial society, four hundred years ago, our direct ancestors, but they are radically different. We, today, are uncomfortable with the two very different forms. The world of politics is compromise and accommodation to a variety of convergent powers and divergent interests. The world of rational thought is open debate, rigorous testing and statistical confidence.
Very different. No wonder we don’t appreciate politics and politicians.