Ylliks

With the Dutch elections coming up I’ve taken a look at all the different campaigns and positions of the political parties. And I have to admit that I’m a bit intrigued by the Dutch Pirate Party (Dutch link). But are they a viable option for me?

I first heard about the Pirate Party movement just before last years European elections where they won a seat with almost 10% of the votes in Sweden. When I heard there’s also a Dutch wing of this party running in our election I had to find out what they were all about.

As it turns out they’re focusing on privacy and copyright law in a technologically driven society as their main (and pretty much only) agenda. In my opinion their views are the type of legislation we need in todays digital life (reason why this blog is copyrighted under a Creative Commons license). However they also state that when they get elected and they have to vote on an issue that’s not part of their main agenda they’ll either consult with their member or don’t vote on it at all.

That’s the main reason why I would never vote for a single-issue party. Main stream political parties have specialists on all types of issues and make their intentions clear on all of them. With single issue parties you may find the party you’ve voted for votes different or not at all on issues you feel strongly about. And I like to have full disclosure as much as possible before I vote for someone. However, with Dutch coalition politics as it is, many main stream parties don’t exactly vote or act as stated in their positions before the elections as well after they’re voted into power, but that’s another story.

The Dutch Pirate Party has a few things going for it. I’ve voted on the left of the political spectrum ever since I’ve had a right to vote and am not persuaded to do anything else this year. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they get a few votes (mainly by the geek crowd, although I don’t think they’ll get a seat) and get some momentum going on their issues. Since their views on copyright and privacy are viable, I certainly hope that their views will get a look at by the established parties.

Tags: Personal, Viewpoint

This entry was posted on Friday, June 4th, 2010 at 13:51 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.