Wilders. In A Landslide
"They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people," Donald Trump said famously, while announcing a long-shot bid for the White House in June of 2015.
Less than two years later, at a campaign event in a working-class town outside of Rotterdam, another provocateur with strange hair said something very similar. "There is a lot of Moroccan scum in Holland who make the streets unsafe," Geert Wilders told reporters, in February of 2017. "Not all are scum."
Wilders, a vet
There are extremists in almost every religious group, who throughout history have taken things too far- resulting in harm to and/or death of innocent people. Most religions (including Islam) and the vast majority of the members, however, focus on providing a framework for living a “good” life that focuses on integrity, morality and strong family values, etc.
I highly recommend “A Little Book of Islam- A Short Guide for Curious Westerners” by Patrick Notchtree. $6.99 on Amazon; for those who do not know much about Islamic principles.
We may well be next.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/america-s-great-divide-poll-shows-many-voters-would-consider-alternative-to-democracy-view-political-violence-as-acceptable/ar-AA1kr3Yc?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=42be609cb1d84800a89b7812c3d27d6f&ei=61
What that will bring upon us:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/06/it-will-be-a-revenge-machine-why-a-second-trump-administration-would-be-much-worse
Feels like most Western democracies are at risk of trying out bigoted grandstanding incompetent populism. The US led the way with Trump, the UK chimed in with Johnson, etc. Let’s hope the US leads the way back to sanity, or that its experience warns other electorates off the path. The saving grace of democracies is that there is a way back – maybe. Not sure what the way back is for Russia or China.
Despite the 24/7 hysteria about democracy on cable news, which has become the source of truth for so many, our system of govt is actually a federalist constitutional republic. Just a clarification, no polemic here on what’s better or worse. As the tide turns in EU after Italy and now Nederlands, we shouldn’t be surprised if Sweden and Germany are next. The multicultural fantasy is unraveling. We in the US have been blessed because many of our immigrants which are from Mexico, or Korea or India or Taiwan for example, who speak the native language of English at least at a functional level and aren’t committed to a religious world view that rejects Western liberal values such as freedom of speech (which includes analytical questioning and criticism of ANY religion/Prophet/Pope/Lama /Swami/Rabbi/etc), equal rights for women including equal opportunity for education fro women, separation of church and state, due process under Western laws, not separate laws and courts that cater to their orthodoxy. Western Europe had its violent fundamentalist wars between Catholics and Protestants a few centuries ago until the European Enlightenment values finally flourished from John Locke, David Hume, Adam Smith, Voltaire, Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Montesquieu and many others to lift us out of the medieval darkness and direct us toward the Western individual liberties of Liberalism we have today. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every religious world view went through such an Enlightenment ?? Western civilization certainly isn’t perfect and deserves criticism, but I’m not seeing any mass migration of Americans, Europeans, Aussies, or Kiwis yet into Jalalabad, or Quetta. And to well-intentioned friends and moderates who encourage Westerners to study the marketing booklets of their particular religion to convince us how their religion is actually based on love, surrender and brotherhood, please turn instead to the aggressive fundamentalists in your own religion and convince them to unequivocally reject all violence/”holy wars”. Please preach to the fundamentalists in your own religion and remind them to choose tolerance, peace, and nonviolence daily in their own heart. Then teach all of us about religion by the power of their example. Let’s turn the page on humanity’s dark medieval past. Let’s welcome immigrants who are enthusiastic about assimilating and embracing their new home and culture. After all, who among us aren’t descended from immigrants. Thanks to Mr H for his excellent coverage of all these provocative and controversial issues of the day.