A few months ago, the young outgoing Secretary of Transportation of the Netherlands, Camiel Eurlings, gave a very emotional (almost un-Dutch) speech about the very nature of a Christian Democrat. (The context was the party-convention that would decide support for a xenophobic government; it was thought by the losing opponents of such a move that this would be, well, unchristian.)
The suprisingly frank bottom line of Eurling's speech was that loyalty to party and loyalty to power are the most important values for a Christian Democrat. (I defy any Dutch speaker to offer an alternative interpretation of his words!) Much to everybody's surprise he decided to leave politics, rather than join the new cabinet. (I had assumed he would be rewarded for his loyalty with some government appointment, of which we have a lot in our democratic kingdom.)
A few months later (i.e., this week) he joined the board of Air-France/KLM, the very company he regulated and whose interests he systematically promoted--after denying in parliament on June 22, 2010 that he ever had any interest in doing so. So, dear readers, do you prefer i) power hungry politicians? ii) ones that can be bought? Iii) or inept ones? Such are the choices we face in Lilliput.
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