All the elections in Western democracies have become so ugly.
The societal fracture lines are so predictable that all that politicians have to do to win elections is to exploit them, regardless of basically any other input factor.
All the large cities in the #Netherlands (with the exception of Rotterdam), like basically all the large cities in the West by now, voted compactly for progressive and center-left political forces.
The rural side, and all the cities with less than 50k people, like everywhere else in the West, voted compactly for the populist and xenophobic far-right.
Large cities with large foreign communities are thriving and trying to send a political message - that diversity is ok and it's actually good. Rural districts that have almost no influx of migrants, on the other hand, keep being frightened by something they barely know.
The educational fracture line is also become too wide to ignore. Especially in these elections: https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/11/analysis-votes-piled-up-for-wilders-as-migration-became-focus/. According to a poll, 62% of college-educated voters in the Netherlands voted for PvdA-GL. When combined with the preferences for other center-left parties (D66, Volt, PS...), it turns out a scenario where almost 3 out of 4 college-educated folks cast their vote on the center-left.
On the other side of the spectrum, however, things are flipped. 47% of those with mid-low level education voted for PVV.
And the old-vs-young divide is also becoming more and more relevant.
The results of these elections, and many others in Western democracies in the past few years, are really shaking my core political beliefs.
I'm probably part of the top 5-10%, but I support parties that want to increase taxes on people like me in order to spread wealth more equally.
I've already purchased my house in the middle of Amsterdam, but I support parties that want to build more houses in order to fix the housing crisis that has left thousands either homeless or struggling to pay rent - even if that means higher taxes on my house, or the value of my house going down once supply increases.
I've already completed my academic studies a while ago, but I want more people to get access to affordable high-quality education in order to have a chance to improve their lives.
I've already got a well-paying job, but I want more people to be granted the possibility of accessing well-paid jobs, and even have a dignitous minimum wage and a dignitous employment contract.
In other words, like many Millennials in my demographic group, and unlike the Boomers and even X-Gens that came before us, I support political forces that often go against my own interests because I see how structural injustice, scarce societal mobility, scarce attention given to equal opportunities for all citizens and outright discrimination affect millions.
On the other hand, how do those who are oppressed the most cast their vote lately?
By voting for those who promise a minimum wage and decent contracts for everyone?
For those who promise to increase the number of paid paternity/maternity benefits, so people can actually take care of their kids and start a family?
For those who promise to increase the number of houses on the market so everybody gets their fair shot at buying a house and starting a family?
For those who promise more funds to education, so many kids will have a better chance in life than their parents?
No, they vote for an ugly racist face with an ugly wig who shouts "kut-marokkan" from a stage like a drunk peasant, who has no plan for fixing any actual problems, but wants people to believe that all of those problems are caused by the low-skilled African who comes here to do the jobs that the Dutch no longer want to do, or the highly-skilled EU/US citizen who comes here to do the jobs that the Dutch don't have the skills to do.
This is seriously one of the biggest political identity crises I've ever faced. Is it even worth to fight political battles to bring more equality and opportunities, when those who need more equality and opportunities the most keep wasting their votes with abhorrent political pipers like #Wilders who have scapegoats for everything and solutions for nothing?
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/11/analysis-votes-piled-up-for-wilders-as-migration-became-focus/
@blacklight I finally got the chance to move back to rural America after 2 decades stuck in an overcrowded city. Nearly everyone in our small town has had to survive in the urban mess for at least some of their life - it is just a fact of being a small place. Some love it and stay, and the speak of politics just as you do, but those who hated the culture of city life with locked doors and unsafe streets don't want a world where we share nothing in common with our neighbors to the point where even greeting another person on the sidewalk is considered transverse.
I don't agree with the solution, but what these politicians are selling out here is not anti immigration as much as it is anti-urban. It surprises me that more political commentators don't engage with the clear anti-urbanism of which anti-immigration is only a part.
@antares @blacklight except they're most openly anti-immigration. In the US, the right might scoff at cities like New York (except when there's a terrorist attack and they can suddenly claim some semblance of solidarity) and talk about "real America" where most Americans don't live, but it's the immigrants they put in camps and drown in the rivers