Declare independence
As a responsible parent, it is probably not a very good idea to be using the F-word in front of my children. And since I am not 100% sure they do not read this blog, I am not going to use it out loud. But you get the picture, right? So: there!
No, not you, dear reader. But you, Yves Leterme, and all you politicians who have put our country in the state it's in today. A state in which a lot of Belgians (like myself) have to explain to the people they know in the French-speaking part as well as abroad, that we are not all short-sighted, self-centered, nationalist bigots who lack any form of historical perspective or solidarity. And I have had it. I am fed up with it.
So cut it out, Yves. Not only do you not have what it takes to get this new government on the rails, you are also not the statesman I want to see running this country in any near or distant future. Your simplistic pre-election propaganda has brought you a lot of votes, that is true. But you knew full well you could never live up to your promises once the elections were over. You do know what that makes you, don't you? What's that, you're saying? You're not alone in this? Of course not, but you are our self-proclaimed future leader. So forgive me if I take the easy shot.
After all, I don't blame the thousands of Flemish men and women who have voted for you. Nor the media who keep feeding them mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows (to use a quote from Trainspotting) and political programme formats who steer away from any form of nuance. No, I blame you. As a politician, you should be dealing with the 'polis': the city (well, in Roman times that was), the state, the nation. Not with your own career, not with the electoral success of your party. But with nation and the people who make the nation. All of them.
That's more easily said than done? Absolutely! Mine is a judgment lacking every little bit of pespective? True! But then why, I wonder, did you make it all sound so simple before the last election day?
Anyway: you have made certain groups in our little country dream out loud of Flemish independence more than they ever have before. And however much in favour I am of good government as you call it, that is just taking it one step too far. To more or less quote Björk (of all people): "I will not let you do that to me". I know: what seeing one video from Later with Jools Holland can lead to...
[Via zrlnd]
