...the farthest left in dutch politicsThis post is relevant because...? The Dutch political landscape is not one of extreme lefts, and only a few extreme rights. Most parties could be considered 'very close to the center'... So the 'farthest left' isn't saying much.
But more to the point: what does the outcome of the Dutch election have to do on/. ? The article (wrongly) states that a online tool changed the outcome of the elections. That was the topic of discussion. So, unless you can help to show the the SP won because of Stemwijzer, I really don't see your point...
While the original post puts forward a most interesting question, the subject of the post is misleading. Post fails to prove that the online voting tool http://www.stemwijzer.nl/ changed the face of Dutch politics.
Stemwijzer is a very useful tool, in that it's purpose is to narrow down which party principles match your own. It helps voters to choose a party by simply matching the 30 answers of the voter with the answers of the participating parties. It then not only shows what party matches your answers the best, but also gives a comparison between your answers and the answers of every other party upon request. It also points to the party program documents of every party.
Most Dutch I know (and being dutch, I know a few...) only used stemwijzer to check if their mental picture (of the party program of their choice) matched the actual program.
To answer the original question: politics can't (and shouldn't) be simplified to a 10 minute test, but a 10 minute test is a great way to get to know 'the field' in a multi party democracy. That, and reading newspapers, watching political TV shows, discussions with friends/relatives/complete strangers and reading all the party programs...
To clarify the subject: the face of Dutch politics was changed because of the political move from center-right to center-left and a 9-seat 'loss of sanity' by the Dutch voters (out of 150 seats in the 'Tweede Kamer' (Dutch house of commons))
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...the farthest left in dutch politicsThis post is relevant because...?
/. ? The article (wrongly) states that a online tool changed the outcome of the elections. That was the topic of discussion. So, unless you can help to show the the SP won because of Stemwijzer, I really don't see your point...
The Dutch political landscape is not one of extreme lefts, and only a few extreme rights. Most parties could be considered 'very close to the center'... So the 'farthest left' isn't saying much.
But more to the point: what does the outcome of the Dutch election have to do on
While the original post puts forward a most interesting question, the subject of the post is misleading. Post fails to prove that the online voting tool http://www.stemwijzer.nl/ changed the face of Dutch politics.
Stemwijzer is a very useful tool, in that it's purpose is to narrow down which party principles match your own. It helps voters to choose a party by simply matching the 30 answers of the voter with the answers of the participating parties. It then not only shows what party matches your answers the best, but also gives a comparison between your answers and the answers of every other party upon request. It also points to the party program documents of every party.
Most Dutch I know (and being dutch, I know a few...) only used stemwijzer to check if their mental picture (of the party program of their choice) matched the actual program.
To answer the original question: politics can't (and shouldn't) be simplified to a 10 minute test, but a 10 minute test is a great way to get to know 'the field' in a multi party democracy. That, and reading newspapers, watching political TV shows, discussions with friends/relatives/complete strangers and reading all the party programs...
To clarify the subject: the face of Dutch politics was changed because of the political move from center-right to center-left and a 9-seat 'loss of sanity' by the Dutch voters (out of 150 seats in the 'Tweede Kamer' (Dutch house of commons))