Young Dutch Socialists To Campaign for Barack Obama
UPDATED Dutch Youth Socialists announced they will travel to the U.S. in order to do research campaign for Obama.
Updated below with e-mail
NETHERLANDS - I’m not actively involved in any political organization in the Netherlands, although I am a registered member of several of them. One such organization is the JOVD (the youth organization for Dutch conservatives). Another one is the VVD itself, which is this country’s traditional conservative party.
Besides those organizations, I’m also a member of the Jonge Socialisten, or Young Socialists. The reason for my membership was that I was politically ambitious (as in wanting to write about it, thinking about it often, etc.) several years ago, one of my friends was a board member for the JS in Groningen and asked me whether I wanted to sign up.
I remain a member nowadays because I am interested in knowing what my political opponents think and do. Additionally, I actually believe in the importance of debate. Sadly I am too busy to debate with these individuals, so I mostly ignore their e-mails and alerts.
Recently, however, I received an e-mail I found quite interesting. The Jonge Socialisten asked me whether I would like to travel to America with them shortly before the U.S. elections in order to do ‘research‘ and campaign for Barack Obama.
Now, before readers will think this would be a great opportunity for me to visit the country I write about so frequently, the trip had a specific partisan purpose despite it being described as ‘research’: They would travel to the United States to campaign for Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for the presidency, as they made clear in the e-mail itself. They also mentioned in the mailing that Pennsylvania - the state they would go to - is a key battleground state, which is why they chose to go there. The name of the trip, by the way, is “JS We Can!”
On the website they changed the wording a bit, but they demand that potential applicants have a “great affinity with the Democratic Party and Barack Obama.” You cannot campaign for someone you don’t support, of course.
Although I am pretty ambitious and although I desperately want to travel to the United States, I declined. Not for me. The reason for my decline is two-fold:
1. I do not hope Obama wins. In fact, I think that an Obama presidency will not be good for Europe, the world or the United States itself
2. I find it a bit strange, to put it mildly, that Dutch people would travel to the United States to campaign for a person they cannot vote for. Better: I find it none of their business to convince people to vote for one candidate or the other. It is, in my humble opinion, not up to us to influence elections in other countries. If Obama wins, we’ll have to deal with that, if McCain wins, same. But we have no business whatsoever actively campaigning for one specific candidate. I could agree to some kind of project that aims at registering people to vote, without being partisan, but a specific partisan assignment is immoral and unjust. I cannot help but wonder what Europeans would say if we would see a massive influx of Americans during our elections, who are all campaigning for conservative candidates
Perhaps these ‘Jong Socialisten’ should stop trying to influence the elections in other countries and, instead, do their best to fix the problems they created in this one
Lastly, a point of some significance: the full name of the Jong Socialists (or Youth Socialists as Michelle Malkin calls them in her post on this subject) is “Jonge Socialisten binnen de PvdA,” which translates into “Young Socialists within the PvdA.” The PvdA is the second largest party of the Netherlands, and member of the government coalition. Although the Young Socialists have a high degree of independence, there is certainly overlap with the PvdA (their website in English) which begs the question whether a ruling coalition party considers it wise to interfere in foreign elections, and why they have not tried to stop the Young Socialists from carrying out their scheme. In case you find it fruitful to let the PvdA - which has 8 ministers in the cabinet of the Netherlands - know what you think about the initiative of the Young Socialists you can e-mail their international secretary.
UPDATE
Some people, especially readers of the popular Dutch blog ReteCool, wondered whether the Young Socialists weren’t merely going to the United States to do research. After all, they don’t say much about campaigning for Obama on their website.
Now, unlike what some seem to think I am not in the habit of jumping to conclusions. If I were, my columns would not get published anywhere.
So, to back up my case here is part of the e-mail that was sent by the Young Socialists’ International Secretary on September 15.
First in Dutch, below follows my (as literal possible) translation:
De JS gaat tussen 20 en 31 oktober 6 of 7 dagen campagne voeren in de Verenigde Staten. We gaan naar een zogenoemde Swing State Pennsylvania. Niet alleen het onderzoek staat centraal ook steken wij zelf de handen uit de mouwen en gaan wij bijvoorbeeld de straat op. Om dit goed voor te bereiden krijg je in Nederland eerst training in Amerikaanse manieren van campagnevoeren zodat je goed voorbereid op reis gaat. Onder andere Jacques Monasch en Marije Laffeber hebben hun medewerking toegezegd. Heb jij hier zin in? Solliciteer dan tot 23 september voor deze functie! De gesprekken vinden plaats op donderdag 24 en vrijdag 25 september.
De reis kost jou 350 euro en daar krijg je de reis, overnachtingen, lokaal vervoer en eten voor terug! We zullen 9 of 10 dagen van huis zijn, de precieze datums zijn nog niet bekend wegens vluchttijden.
The bold parts translate into:
The JS [Young Socialists] are going to campaign between 20 and 31 October for six or seven days in America [the precise dates weren't known yet when they sent the e-mail].
We are not limiting ourselves to research, we will also put in an effort ourselves and we will, for instance, ‘go out on the streets.’
In order to do this [campaigning for Obama] as successfully as possible you will be trained in American ways of campaigning.
Jacques Monasch and Marije Laffeber are among those who have agreed to cooperate with us.
The trip will cost you 350 euro and you will get the trip, overnight stays, local transportation, and food for in return!
The translation reads horrible but that’s because I wanted to translate it as literally as possible.
This e-mail was sent by Niek Ritzen, Internationaal Secretaris Jonge Socialisten in de PvdA, on September 15, 2008.
Jacques Monasch is the former campaign leader of the Dutch moderate socialist party the PvdA, which is presently a member of the governing coalition. Marije Laffeber is currently the party’s international secretary.
One could very well make the case therefore, that a Dutch political party is trying to influence the election in the U.S.
What I find amusing is that the American image of "socialist" is so completely out of date. Malkin says the word socialist and what she’s thinking is not what you are Michael. Socialists have been in Europe long enough that, as you know, most socialist parties are just lefty parties in your regular political system.
But to the bulk of Americans, the word "socialist" conjures up images of dark rooms and radicals and violence. When they hear that a socialist party has won an election in Europe they think of Che Guevara, not the smarmy colorless bureaucrat that is president Zapatero of Spain, for instance.
I’m going to guess that "Socialist youth" as envisioned by Malkin has little resemblance to the pot smoking, hippy-dippy, idealistic college aged kids that I’d bet are more stereotypical in Europe.
Oh and BTW Michael, you realize that your close association to radical socialists as well as your membership in a socialist party means that, if you were American, you would be called a near-terrorist and unacceptable for higher office, right?
Did I lie about it? Right. Did I hide it? Right. Did I explain it, right? Did they commit terrorism? Right. Did I work with them to bring about socialist change? Right.
Michael,Don’t listen to Claudia.Thank you for the great post. We in America thank you.
I know what a socialist government is because I grew up in one. I do not like it because of the belief of social distribution of weath with a class of elitist. I love this country and donot want want to see this country become a socilaist nation. Socialism is not about violance or radicalism, it is about government controlling your social status (taxes). Government is not the answer. Socialism has been proven NOT to work. Europe is a great example. I have read this countries constitution. It calls for individual responsiblility, not for government to be responsible for the behavior of individuals, nor for it to provide for its people. If that was the case, should not government say it is the right of the people to be given food (Universal food), (Universal housing), ( Universal trasportation). How about saying Universal everything. How far are we going to take this? Socialism has influanced the media of this country to the point that it has become a government run entity (democrate party run, socialist and leftist). As for the Dutch socialist youth messing with this countries elections; STAY OUT OF IT. The Dutch party has no right to get involved, but socialist will support socilaist. What a coincidence. How would you like it if conservatives for the youth would go to the Neatherlands and interfere with your politics? They would scream emperialism. Dutch Youth, stay out of this country.
Claudia, I realize that your comment was mainly snark but do you somehow find it offensive that Americans wouldn’t elect a socialist? Shouldn’t voters choose the party ideology that they feel is the best fit for our values and system?
Socialism has been proven NOT to work. Europe is a great example.
Mouarf. What about the Scandinavia, for example?
the smarmy colorless bureaucrat that is president Zapatero of Spain
Do not you think that your description is a bit unfair? The "colorless bureaucrat" won the national elections. Two times.
C. Stanley I don’t dispute that Americans have the right to not elect a socialist the very same way they might not elect a democrat or republican. My quibble is that the American vision "a socialist", from what I’ve gathered from a wide variety of articles, remains rather stuck in a historic stereotypical caricature that hasn’t changed much over the decades. The associations Americans make with the word "socialist" are a lot more extreme than the socialists themselves.
In Europe socialist parties have millions upon millions of members and voters, but what it means to be a "socialist" has changed from it’s original ideology. If you want to see what a large proportion of socialist parties are like, look at liberal democrats. Now, you may disagree with them ideologically, but you couldn’t really say they are dangerous radicals, which is what many Americans think of when they hear "socialist". The socialist parties, in much of Europe, have become moderate and simply one more member of regular democratic society. They are far from revolutionaries.
Lucréce, it’s my personal opinion of the man, I don’t pretend it’s an objective evaluation. I came very close to voting for him out of sheer spite to the PP, the first time around. I couldn’t bring myself to do it (I voted Green instead) and this last time I voted for the PP (the conservatives), this time out of sheer spite for the PSOE. I happen to dislike him quite a bit, though not so much as I dislike Bush. My point is that he’s not some radical revolutionary, despite the "socialist" party he belongs to.
Oh and incidentally in case anybody cares, I do believe it is inappropriate for these young people to go to the US to try to influence (as ineffective as they will be) the election. They should mind their own business and attend to their own country.
The VVD a conservative party? It is right wing in the sense of pro-business and free market, but I’d think that socially, it is definitely not conservative (support for gay marriage, legal prostitution and euthanasia).
Hmmm. I find it very interesting to read some of these comments. First, Claudia, your perception of what you think our perception of socialism is couldn’t be further from the truth. Most Americans absolutely do NOT view socialists as terrorists. A vast majority of us are intelligent enough to know what socialism is in and of itself—-big government "providing" (using our own money) for the people because it purports to know what is best for us rather than letting people be responsible for their own actions, choices and behaviors. My husband and I are living the American Dream because we chose to work very hard and chose to make huge sacrifices to achieve that dream. Now Obama, as President, wants to take more than 55 -60% of our income to distribute to others who made different choices, so he can elevate their standard of living by lowering ours. Your, and most of the world’s, perception of Americans has been shaped largely by our main stream media which has taken a huge turn to the left and has misrepresented us to achieve their agenda. And to reiterate what others have commented, if any conservative Americans traveled to Europe to influence any elections, there would be mass hysteria. I sincerely hope they will reconsider and cancel their plans.
There is no such thing as a republican party in Holland. The VVD comes closest to McCain (in fact it almost seems like they share the same program) but no religion is really involved with the VVD. No ProLife, supports gay etc. The VVD is the party of freedom and democracy. For the true conservative way of thinking you’d better point in the direction of the SGP or ChristenUnie. I’m a true VVD supporter and I support McCain. Obama will be terrible for The US and Europe. The free market will be destroyed, he will raise taxes and do whatever the PvdA does in Holland… bad news for everybody.
Cindy,
I’m also a VVD voter (and member), and you are right… but only to a degree. The problem is that Dutch conservatism isn’t the same as American conservatism. America’s founders of conservatism had other ideas about conservatism than ours had. However, it’s pretty correct to call the VVD ‘conservative’ according to Dutch standards, and history.
The SGP and ChristenUnie may be considered more ‘conservative’ by Americans, but not by us. They are not conservative for they do not wish to conserve. Rather, they wish to turn back time, regressive in other words. There is a tremendously important difference between conservatism and regressivism, or trying to turn back time, to turn black the clock, to mimic a past (which never existed in the first place).
As for Obama: I agree with your assessment, although I would be less inclined to call him ‘terrible.’ ‘Bad’ would be more like it.
"Lucréce, it’s my personal opinion of the man, I don’t pretend it’s an objective evaluation. [...] My point is that he’s not some radical revolutionary, despite the "socialist" party he belongs to."
I had well understand your words like that.
"Oh and incidentally in case anybody cares, I do believe it is inappropriate for these young people to go to the US to try to influence (as ineffective as they will be) the election. They should mind their own business and attend to their own country."
It is not a stupid remark. If I was a Dutch citizen, I would prefer work for the victory of the PVDA; the victory of the US Democratic Party is the business of US citizens.
Thanks for posting the JS email. However, your statement
"Some people, especially readers of the popular Dutch blog ReteCool, wondered whether the Young Socialists weren’t merely going to the United States to do research. After all, they don’t say much about campaigning for Obama on their website."
..is slightly beside the truth. In fact, there is only 1 response by a reader suggesting that it’s a mere research job by the "Jonge Socialisten", which you nicely shot down. The bottom line of my post was that for them to go campaigning in the USA (for whatever candidate as far as I’m concerned) is a bad idea and against the priciples of free democracy. It’s a waste of our taxpayers money. If they are so eager to support Obama (which I fully understand), they better stay home. Obama doesn’t need any help anyway, he is doing just fine.
“The free market will be destroyed, he will raise taxes and do whatever the PvdA does in Holland… bad news for everybody.” The free market is destroyed, thanks to the free market fundamentalists of the Republican party. The dutch financial system is saved thanks to the PvdA (Wouter Bos) in Holland, and the problems are thanks to the VVD.
What I find scary more than amusing is that our Chosen one has
hypnotized Obamuppets across the globe. Obama will take a
great country and turn it into a village.