Did Geert Wilders really 'lose' the Dutch election?

The American Thinker ^ | 03/16/17 | Rick Moran

[Theodore R.]

It must have been “fake news” about Wilders likely to win. The ultraliberalism of the hapless Dutch people is never a surprise.

[Theodore R.]

The Dutch are too stubborn to be awakened: their liberalism means everything to them, as they long ago abandoned Christianity.

[SharpRightTurn]

“Geert Wilders tweets ‘We were the 3rd largest party of the Netherlands. Now we are the 2nd largest party.’”

https://twitter.com/geertwilderspvv/status/842255891210608640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Kudos to Geert for trying to lead the Netherlands back from the brink, at great personal risk.

[Wallace T.]

The Church of England was never entirely Calvinist, as the Dutch Reformed Church was until the 19th Century, when liberalism arose in that church. The Anglicans had Arminian and Anglo-Catholic factions, as well as Calvinists. The 39 Articles of Faith were not as thoroughly reformed as were the Canons of the Synod of Dort or the Westminster Confession of Faith. The Anglican statement of faith was broadly Protestant, while the latter two were specifically Reformed.

Language and genetics cannot be discounted. While Dutch, Frisian, and Low German are not intelligible to an English speaker, their grammar and basic vocabularies are closer to English than are French or Spanish. Language helps to structure thought, which in turn influences culture. The culture of the historically Protestant Dutch is similar to that of the historically Catholic Flemish. Both groups speak the same language.

Much of the genetic inheritance of the English people. outside of Cornwall or Devon, is derived from Denmark, northwest Germany, and the Netherlands, the result of the 5th and 6th Century invasions by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. English, and to some extent, lowland Scots, genetics differ markedly from the Celtic areas of the British Isles. There are IQ gradients within Europe, with Central and Northern Europe having several points higher IQ than the western or eastern fringes or southern Europe.

[burghguy]

First, the Democrats did not pick up seats last November. Second, even if Wilders had controlled 40% of the seats, which was the highest pre-election prognostication I have seen, that would still have left him unable to form a coalition government as all the opposition parties announced pre-election that they would not support Wilders to form a government. No one expected him to take power. This was a victory, but the war continues.

[aspasia]

I can’t really comment because of the many topics you raise. Connection to England is not the church, but the political system. And Dutch is pretty much German, Dutch Protestants and Catholics (as everywhere in the world) are very much different in character, despite their language. New claims don’t justify old ones.

[DoodleDawg]

First, the Democrats did not pick up seats last November.

Yeah they did. Two in the Senate and six in the House.

This was a victory, but the war continues.

So he did worse than expected, would never have been able to form a government even had he gotten the most seats, and it's still a win? OK.

[MinuteGal]

Q: Why do the Dutch wear wooden shoes?

A: To keep the woodpeckers off their heads.

Leni

[pgkdan]

LOL!

[etabeta]

My European friends are all rejoicing today that populism didn’t win......

[danamco]

Another more important issue: WHY are Killary/Barry still walking free and Sessions not having them lucked up in GITMO waiting treason charges ???

Just unbelievable !!!

[pepsi_junkie]

At this point I don't think anything will make them shake off their stupor.

The Stockholm syndrome is strong with Europeans.

[burghguy]

Okay, let me reword my response. The dems woefully underperformed in the Senate, which many pundits believed they would retake, and also lost a shoe-in Presidency. If you call that winning, I don’t know what to tell you.
Wilder’s was expected to do better early on in the campaign but in the past ten days or so the polls narrowed considerably. He did better than recent prognostications. But what’s your point? He is not liked by the establishment parties and no one expected him to get more than 40% of the vote even when he was polling at his highest numbers. And because the best he could do was 40%, and none of the other parties were going to work with him, no one expected him to be able to form a government. You want to call that a loss go ahead, but you are wrong. He added seats and has the second highest number of all parties. The trend is your FRiend, and he is trending UP.