{"id":68490,"date":"2017-03-22T15:41:30","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T14:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/?p=68490\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:40","slug":"geen-beste-vrienden-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/03\/22\/geen-beste-vrienden-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Best friends? Just no."},"content":{"rendered":"
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I feel like a child who has realised that Punch is no more than a piece of fabric across some old dude\u2019s hand. When he asks us in a loud voice if we wish to see Judy, I know that he is pulling a fast one on us, that there is no Judy and that she is merely his other hairy hand. But even so I yell at him to show us Judy, simply because it feels like I am supposed to.<\/p>\n

Joining in because you know you are supposed to, even though you are aware you are having your leg pulled \u2013 that\u2019s what voting feels like. You are expected to do it, and you cannot not do it, but at the end of the day, voting is a mere formality distracting us from the fact that parties end up not doing the things the people want them to do.<\/p>\n

Smooth talk<\/h3>

I could have voted for any party, really, because every party promises us the world. Yes, I do want to have more money, and no, I do not want the retirement age to be pushed back even farther. I do not wish to feel unsafe, and I wish everyone the very best, provided that such is not going at my expense. However, I do not want to vote for someone who merely agrees with me on everything. I want to vote for someone who can actually deliver on his promises.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018I want to hate him for not lying, because the truth hurts\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Moreover, I don\u2019t want party leaders to become my new best friends. I don\u2019t want to know that a leader loves Chihuahuas or that he thinks it is perfectly OK to eat children\u2019s biscuits in bed even though he is all grown up. Every once in a while I want to hate him for not lying, because the truth hurts. I don\u2019t want him to flirt with me, nor to win me over with his smooth talk. I don\u2019t want to hear another thing from him until he is ready to start talking sense. And most of all, I don\u2019t want to pity him when I see him on TV looking all dejected again because, for reasons beyond his control, he had to break yet another election promise.<\/p>\n

I want to see politicians stop putting on an act. I want them to throw away their puppets. I want them to get up, draw the curtain and show us their real faces. When that happens, I will cheer like a child.<\/p>\n

Moo Miero is a student at Erasmus School of Law<\/em><\/p>\n

More Moo<\/h2>