The Author – Bart Busschots
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Jan
4
It’s not the Flip-flopping, it’s the Dishonesty!
Filed Under Polemics & Politics on January 4, 2012 | Leave a Comment
It’s primary time in the US, and Mitt Romney is running again, so of course you can’t drown out the chorus of pundits denigrating him for being a ‘flip-flopper’. It would appear that in the mind of much of the popular press on the west side of the Altlantic, keeping an open mind is an unforgivable crime!
Before you all think I’ve gone mad, I am NOT saying Mitt Romney is great, I’m saying the problem with him is not THAT he changes his mind, but his dishonesty about his many reversals. A good leader will be guided by his core principles, and reality. His principles should not change, but reality does, inevitably, and eternally. As reality evolves, the best avenues to peruse your principles have to evolve as well. If you want to live in a well run country you should applaud political leaders who have the courage to re-evaluate their plans and proposals as situations evolve.
Jan
26
Has Belgium Hit the End of the Road?
Filed Under Polemics & Politics on January 26, 2011 | 10 Comments
I’m annoyed today. Very annoyed. I think we’re witnessing the demise of the country which I am proud to be a citizen of – Belgium. There’s no doubt that it is, and always has been, a strange place. It was a purely made up country that had nothing on common apart from a shared Catholic faith, and the newly appointed king. I don’t know of any other country where there is no common national language. The struggles between the Wallonians and the Flemish has been long and complicated. Despite being a physically tiny nation, Belgium has become a Federal State, with a national federal government in Brussels, and local ‘state’ governments in Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia. The local governments are all working just fine, they have administrations in place, and are getting on with the job of running their respective parts of the country. The problem lies with the national federal government. We have had a string of unstable governments for years now, often with very long gaps between elections and the eventual formation of short-lived and turbulent administrations. When the previous government collapsed last spring, elections were called and held in June. Since then, there have been on-going negotiations to form a government, and they have not gone smoothly. Today, for what feels like the millionth time, talks collapsed, and the King’s mediator has handed his resignation to the King. If you’re wondering why there have to be negotiations, the reason is that there are no nation-wide parties in the Belgium. There are Flemish parties and Wallonian parties, and although there is a Flemish Green Party and a Wallonian one, they are not the same party, and don’t work together. The constitution sets this division in stone mandating that governments consist of coalitions of Flemish and Wallonian parties.