Every Dutch party now holds positions concerning immigrants’ obligations to Dutch society that might've been called fascistic by the left a decade ago

…the message of Geert Wilders, head of the anti-immigrant Freedom Party and Labor’s ideal boogeyman, has become an increasingly broken record for the electorate, with his poll scores running well under the projections of a few months ago

comments John Vinocur, regarding the upcoming elections in the Netherlands. But perhaps that is not as bad as it sounds at first. Indeed,

Every Dutch party, Labor included, now holds positions concerning immigrants’ obligations to Dutch society that might have been called fascistic by the left a decade earlier.

…the focus of the Netherlands and its voters has become adapting.

Their polling response is striking. The Liberal Party is the Dutch political formation most at ease with capitalism and the markets. It is neither statist nor moralistic about financial market regulation in the manner of most of Continental Europe’s leadership. Its prime ministerial candidate, Mark Rutte, is a former Unilever executive. Indeed, the party’s trademarks are both its pragmatism and its being a target for its rivals’ accusations of heartlessness.

…Early this decade, the Dutch were also the first Europeans to call into question a conventional premise that integration of Muslim immigrants could be accomplished through multiculturalism without specific rules for conforming to Dutch law and tradition. The issue is no longer a taboo here or elsewhere in Europe.

…[Mr. Rutte] wants to make €20 billion, or $25 billion, in immediate cuts in the Dutch budget, to stop social security payments to newcomers living in the Netherlands for less than 10 years, and, while supervising markets closely, to avoid characterizing them as immoral and destructive machines.