The misconception that democracy is simple

A popular complaint is that political reporting focuses too much on individuals. And too little for content; for vision, ideas, and the way in which they are translated into law. But if you come in Monday NRC When you read the revelations of Petra de Koning and Guus Valk about Volt, you could also think: isn’t there too little attention to people?

Apparently last year, three months before the elections, a “break of trust” between party leader Laurens Dassen and number two Nilüfer Gündogan. This after Gündogan initiated a fire letter criticizing Dassen, supported by the numbers three, four and five of the candidate list.

So I looked back at what the NOS and NRC reported about Volt in those three months. Only items about the party’s ideas and plans, including a well thought out interview with Ties at news hour. And it’s easy to say, but with today’s knowledge you think: wouldn’t attention to personal relationships in Volt have been more useful?

Because this party apparently did not realize that you will never make it in The Hague if the relationship between the numbers one and two is already broken before the elections.

An underestimate that you often see, also locally, among (new) parties: too many people have come to think that democracy is easy.

You set up a party, a few principles, a few ideas, a cover, a website, interesting candidates, and you’re pretty much there. Voters will find you through the voting guides anyway, and they too often think that it is primarily about the ideas.

It is contempt for democracy, among politicians and voters. Because without cooperation with other politicians, in its own party or outside it, no party will ever realize its own ideas.

And if people no longer know what democracy requires, this mainly damages democracy itself. A few weeks ago I attended the election of MP Joost Sneller (D66) as chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Government Expenditure. An elementary controlling body, especially now that the government is going to experiment with billions of dollars in funds and, probably, other European budgetary standards.

But the election was attended by only one member of the fragmented opposition, Mahir Alkaya (SP) – he became deputy chairman. Furthermore, there were only coalition MPs.

So now that the Chamber is heading for twenty (!) factions through Volt, and the contribution of the fragmented opposition to parliamentary work is visibly weakening, you can continue to say that more attention should be paid to content and less to people. But then you miss an elementary point: that it is precisely the devoured attention to personal relationships that is eroding democracy further and further.