Apres Theo van Gogh, le deluge

The growing story of the battle for the future of Europe in Holland has finally reached The New York Times. As discussed here, here, here, and here; Holland is the Canary in the European coalmine.

The tinderbox of non-assimilation, Islamofascism, and the self-destructive nature of the Socialist Welfare State seen throughout Western Europe is best seen there. It has reached the point that native Dutch are leaving their country, surrendering it to an aggressive, hostile, violent Golem - a monster of their own creation.

Leave this stable and prosperous corner of Europe? Leave this land with its generous social benefits and ample salaries, a place of fine schools, museums, sports grounds and bicycle paths, all set in a lively democracy?

Ummmm, yes NYT. And the real interesting part will happen over the next 50 years.

There is more than the concern about the rising complications of absorbing newcomers, now one-tenth of the population, many of them from largely Muslim countries. Many Dutch also seem bewildered that their country, run for decades on a cozy, political consensus, now seems so tense and prickly and bent on confrontation.

Yes, but you have made your bed, now you have to sleep in it. Or move to another bed and ruin that too (not unlike the looney-Boomer Californians who ruined that state and have now moved their bodies, politics, and votes to Oregon, Colorado, Arizona and other Western U.S. states).

In interviews, emigrants rarely cited a fear of militant Islam as their main reason for packing their bags.

Of course not.......

But he was still taken aback in November when a Dutch filmmaker was shot and his throat was slit, execution style, on an Amsterdam street.

In the weeks that followed, Mr. Hiltemann was inundated by e-mail messages and telephone calls. "There was a big panic," he said, "a flood of people saying they wanted to leave the country."

.... after they lie to the interviewer about why they want to leave. Watch what people do, not what they say. That is the core to the European problem, and the cancer of their Liberal Left philosophy. They would rather quit than admit that they were wrong and work to correct their problem. Denial is a river in Holland.

Ruud Konings, an accountant, has just sold his comfortable home in the small town of Hilvarenbeek. In March, after a year's worth of paperwork, the family will leave for Australia. The couple said the main reason was their fear for the welfare and security of their two teenage children.

"When I grew up, this place was spontaneous and free, but my kids cannot safely cycle home at night," said Mr. Konings, 49. "My son just had his fifth bicycle stolen." At school, his children and their friends feel uneasy, he added. "They're afraid of being roughed up by the gangs of foreign kids."

Yes, too bad you were too busy voting for ideas that made you feel good as opposed to voting for those things that would have left your children a Holland they could be proud of.

Immigrant youths now make up half the prison population. More than 40 percent of immigrants receive some form of government assistance, a source of resentment among native Dutch. Immigrants say, though, that they are widely discriminated against.

I am sure they do. But they are not leaving The Netherlands, now are they?

"They are successful people, I mean, urban professionals, managers, physiotherapists, computer specialists," he said. Five years ago, he said, most of his clients were farmers looking for more land.

Mr. Buysse, who employs a staff of eight to process visas, concurred. He said farmers were still emigrating as Europe cut agricultural subsidies. '"What is new," he said, "is that Dutch people who are rich or at least very comfortable are now wanting to leave the country."

Sounds familiar to me. The Jewish families I grew up with would always have the Grandparent-Uncle-Aunt who would be described as "Aunt Rose grew up in Germany. She came here in 1935 with her father who saw what was going to happen. Everyone else on that side of the family died during WWII."

Not a perfect analogy, but I'll use it. The smart professionals that have the money and foresight to leave are usually the first to leave. Not a good sign.

Ms. Konings said the Dutch themselves brought on some of the social frictions. The Dutch "thought that we had to adapt to the immigrants and that we had to give them handouts," she said. "We've been too lenient; now it's difficult to turn the tide."

But as always, there is hope the Dutch can fix their problems if they come to terms with them and take action.

Many who settle abroad may not appear in migration statistics, like the growing contingent of retirees who flock to warmer places. But official statistics show a trend. In 1999, nearly 30,000 native Dutch moved elsewhere, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. For 2004, the provisional figure is close to 40,000.

That's not good. The quitters don't vote...or fight.
Let's do the math here. Holland has a population of almost 16 million. Let's say the US population is 300 million. 40,000 Dutch is the same as 750,000 Americans. A year.

That's a story. I don't think that many Americans are going to Canada.