Monday, April 18, 2005

Holland: The Freedom Quotient

Fire of Liberty

It looks like the Dutch are also having a rough go convincing its people that the EU Constitution is something that's good. According to this article in The Financial Times, the Dutch government is scrambling to get out the "yes" vote for their June 1, 2005 referendum on the EU Constitution. After seeing these poll results, I truly understand this drastic scramble from Brussels:
The government's most recent survey, carried out in the last two days, showed a narrow majority intends to vote Yes. But a sizeable number of people have yet to decide. However, a recent poll for Twee Vandaag, a Dutch news programme, showed 24 per cent in favour, 23 per cent undecided and 53 per cent opposed to the treaty. D66, the leftist junior party in Mr Balkenende's centre-right administration, has bemoaned the lack of media interest in the treaty.
I'd say that the people of the Netherlands are demonstrating that they're smarter than the bureaucrats who hold court in The Hague. I guess the Dutch people are a little miffed with a 400 page constitution, which creates a government that has people instead of a people with a government. When you take the citizenry from the whole quotient-as with this constitution- you will get such an outright rejection by the people if they ever get to vote in a referendum like this. Could it be possible the people of France and Holland could do the whole thing in? I hope so.

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