Fear mongering about the left-wing specter

I'd consumed too much news and current affairs again. Especially the suddenly increased dose of national political news. I couldn't quite separate reality from politics anymore. I noticed this on my way to the park, when I walked the dog past the primary school. Just like the national politicians, the children, with new jackets and bags, had started the year with fear and trembling or unfounded optimism. Above the screams, I heard one shout: "Geertje's been to Efteling too often!" It was Jesse Klaver. He was talking to that one janitor who always laughs out loud at jokes from rich, right-wing parents and mercilessly questions left-wing parents: Mr. Kockelmann . That Geertje Wilders loves Efteling's Dream Flight is one of the few truths the Netherlands knows about the inner workings of the PVV. Jesse's joke about this to Mr. Kockelmann suggested he plans to use the new year to deal with the national painted bully populist the same way the governor of California deals with the painted bully populist of the United States. A new sticker gleamed on little Jesse's lunchbox: " When they go low, we go left ."

A girl sat in a wooden playhouse, screaming: "I won't play with you! I won't play with you either! No one!" That must have been Dilan. Her parents and the school administration know she won't make it through the fall break, that she'll leave school through the back door and probably become a consultant for some multinational, but it's too late to change now, neither her school nor her party leader.

Femke Wiersma has been left with fifty failing grades and is continuing on her current path: doing nothing but slowing down, and when questioned, spouting a whole bunch of complex words to hide the fact that doing nothing is precisely the intention. In response to a question from a teacher who could also have been a reporter, she crammed in: "Source measures, buyout regulations, additionality, PAS reporters, permits, and the legalization period," concluding with "it's complicated" and "extra time needed." From the smoking area outside the schoolyard, Mrs. van der Plas watched proudly. Femke is doing so well. Slamming on the brakes in high heels, memorizing complex words, and proudly proclaiming her incredible hard work. A star for the agribusiness, a shame for the rest of the Netherlands.

Ron Fresen also ran into the schoolyard: "Teacher! Teacher!" He'd done his homework—well, he'd had the ChatGPT done, but that counts these days too. What turned out? The Labour Party (PvdA) hadn't become more left-leaning with GroenLinks at all, as the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) claimed; quite the opposite. Compared to 2012, when Mark Rutte and Diederik Samsom organized a decent, stable school gala, one that even lasted until the end of the government's term, the Labour Party has actually shifted to the center.

It's almost touching how right-wing parents, janitors, and other influencers are scaring Dutch voters with the specter of the left. As if the left ever even came close to creating a mob like we saw the right do. On the right, Henri Bontenbal is now being exalted because he at least doesn't exhibit psychotic tendencies. Meanwhile, Jimmy Dijk, very left-leaning, arranged for annual dental checkups to be included in basic health insurance. Not that a free dental checkup is going to get you many votes on a school playground.

Carolina Trujillo is a writer.