In which our heroine attempts to explain the ins and outs of governing, Gone Dutch.

The Netherlands is a bit weird. It’s both a Constitutional Monarchy and a Parliamentary Democracy. The government here tries to get a broad consensus from both the parliament and the people on important issues. It’s not for nothing that the Netherlands was voted 3^rd most democratic country in 2007.

Our official head of state is Queen Beatrix. She does have actual government powers. She approves a new cabinet, accepts the resignation of a cabinet if the government falls, and can veto laws. She is not allowed to propose laws or amendments. I have a lot of respect for the Queen. She’s a very intelligent and politically savvy woman. She holds double degrees in political science and law from the University of Leiden and speaks 6 languages fluently.

The head of government is the prime minister. Right now, that’s Jan Peter Balkenede or Harry Potter if you ask the Belgians. The PM is usually the head of the largest party of the current coalition. He doesn’t have anymore powers than the rest of the ministers.

The vice prime minister is usually the head of the second largest party in the current coalition. Right now, we have 2 VPMs.

The Cabinet is usually 13 to 16 ministers, a bunch of secretaries and a couple of ‘members without portfolios”. Pretty much the same departments that the US has. State, Interior, Transportation, Education… you get the general idea. More on the formation and functions of various people later.

The Cabinet answers to Parliament. Parliament is made up of 2 chambers. The First Chamber, or upper house is 75 members chosen by the provincial assemblies. They can only veto laws and they can only veto a law 3 times. If it passes the lower house a fourth time, they have no choice but to pass it onto the Queen. The people have spoken. However, if the Queen vetoes it, it’s dead. It has to be reworked and repassed until she’s happy.

The Second Chamber, or lower house, has 150 members that are directly elected every 4 years or whenever the cabinet falls. The cabinet falls if a vote of no confidence is carried by the lower house. The cabinet then submits it’s resignation to the Queen. She either accepts its or tells them to go back, put on their grownup under-roos and fix it. We’re on Balkenende 4 and none of his parliaments have ever made it the full 4 years. Take from that what you will.

Because we have so many different parties, no one party has controlled the government since the 1800s. The three main ‘families’ of political parties are the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, and the Liberals. Currently, there are 10 different parties in parliament, ranging from the Christian Democrat Appeal, to the Labor party (PvdA), to the Liberals(VVD) to the Party for the Animals. Ok, so the last one only has 2 seats out of 75 but the animals have representation.

Now, I hear you asking over there, “How in the name of Pete does this work? How do things ever get done?” Well, the short answer is, “Slowly”. Let’s talk about the long answer, ok?

First, everyone runs to the polls and votes. The number of votes needed to win a seat in parliament changes every election. It’s based on the total number of votes divided by 150. A party figures it will get X number of seats this election and puts it’s top people in those spots. With the party leader at #1 of course. You can either vote JUST for a party or for individuals in that party. If no-one gets the required number of votes, then the first X people get the seats. With me so far? Good, because here is where it gets fun.

Now let’s say it takes 50,000 votes to win a seat. Party ABC gets 345,000 votes. That’s 6 seats and change. What are we going to do about those 45,000 ‘extra’ votes? Just throw them away? Of course not! This is the Netherlands, we don’t throw anything away. Ever. So we wait until everything is counted and look, we have a few seats left over! So we go down the list. Who has the most ‘left-over’ votes? First in line is party ABC. One seat for you. And so on and so on until all seats are awarded.

Ok, voting over, all seats awarded. Now what? It’s coalition time, baby.

(TO BE CONTINUED…)

JoyMcJackal  says : i now have at least 5 girls interested in the knitting club

Corwin02 says :You are horribly evil

Corwin02 says : corrupting the childrens minds

JoyMcJackal  says : well the things is, some of the mothers want to join too.

Corwin02 says : you are thus corrupting society as a whole

JoyMcJackal  says :i’m making it a better place

Corwin02 says :wool itches

Corwin02 says :that causes irritation

JoyMcJackal  says :good wool does NOT itch

Good question.

Does it mean that I should feel guilty about being a SAHM and housewife? Am I betraying my sex by being happy in a ‘traditionally female’ lifestyle? Am I doing my son a disservice by not having a career and a full-time job, preferring to be at home for him and putting my energy towards my home, his school and *GASP* my knitting?

I don’t think so. Isn’t feminism supposed to be about doing what you like and damn the torpedos? Isn’t it supposed to be about equal pay for equal work? If a woman wants to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, good on her. Actually, I hope that ANYONE who wants to be a CEO gets the chance they deserve.

I’m tired of being looked at because I love to be a wife and a mom and I actually ENJOY staying at home. I’m tired of women being slammed because they have careers.  I’m tired of men being ridiculed because they have the opportunity to actually be the Man of the House.  People need to get off this gender role thing and accept that people should do what they are good at and love.

Oh, and by the way, boy can knit, too.

4 years ago today, I landed on these fair shores. It was raining, of course. Imagine that.

I will be eternally grateful to this brilliant little swamp for showing me my true self. It tried it’s best to chew me up and spit me out, but I came through it a stronger person with a greater appreciation for who I am and what the true meaning of friendship is.

First, the insurance part. We are legally obligated here to have health insurance. Insurance companies here MUST offer the ‘basic policy’ for around 89 euros a person. Certain things are required to be in this policy and some insurance companies throw in little extras because our insurance industry is still competitive. After you have the basics covered (doctor visits, hospital, certain meds, and so on), you can pick extras. Like vision, dental, extra psych. I’d have to look at our policy to see what the entire list of extras is. These extras, of course, add to your policy and you can pick them for one member of your family or the whole family. Insurance companies are not allowed to refuse ANYONE from the basic policy and they can’t raise the premiums based on pre-existing conditions. (That’s the part I really really like)

This year, they introduced a 150 euro, per person, per year deductible. I think I was the only person in our circle not complaining. Compared to the US, that’s peanuts. For families below the median income, they get a refund on a monthly basis from the tax office.

Now onto how our doctors works. You have to sign up with a ‘huisarts’ or GP. Earlier, it wasn’t possible to switch, but that’s changed. I don’t particularly like my GP, but since she’s part of a practice, I can usually avoid her and I only need my GP like once a year. There is no co-pay thing at the time of service and doctor visits are 100% covered, and not part of the deductible.

Most GPs have certain hours during the day that you can call to make an appointment. This doesn’t count for emergencies, however. In order to see a specialist, you have to have a referral from your GP. In your case, you would get a referral to a OB/GYN because you’re a high risk pregnancy. Our GPs handle a lot more than US GPs as well. Birth control, and pap smears are done in their office. I personally like this policy because it saves the specialists time for people that REALLY needs them and they aren’t wasting their time on Crazy Aunty Grizelda the professional hypochondriac.

When you get your appointment, you’re not collected by a nurse to sit in the exam room for 30 minutes until the doctor breezes by for a 5 minute chat. The doctor comes to get you and usually takes you back to their office/exam room. If it’s a referral, they print out the letter, sign it and you’re on your way. Otherwise, it’s just like home. They aren’t pill happy here and sometimes you have to almost argue with the older ones. But that’s more a Dutch culture/Calvinistic/pain is for the weak thing. They don’t have as many nurses in the office as we have in the US, either. And the only time I’m NOT seen by the doctor is when I get my pap smear.

So, how does this all manage to work? How is it that our medical costs are lower, our insurance is cheaper and we get the same level if not better medical care in the US?

First of all, insurance/litigation payments are set by law. If you’re injured and have to sue, you’re NOT going to get millions of dollars. If the injury disables you, you’ll get a payment based on your age, what salary you would have brought home until you retired, and the level of your disability. They also aren’t big on pain/suffering payments. Once again, it’s that Dutch/Calvinistic/pain is for sissies thing. Dutchies are strange little people but I love them dearly. That means our GPs have seriously low malpractice insurance premiums, which translates into lower running costs for their offices.

Second, our GPs get a lump sum payment from the govt. each year based on the number of patients their practice has. Since this comes from my tax dollars, I look it like a retainer fee you would pay a lawyer. It also means that my GP isn’t trying to cram patients in like sardines. Their education costs are lower as well. Yes, they student loans to pay off but it’s nowhere near the amount that US doctors have.

So…….in order to bring health care costs to a reasonable level in the US, there has be a lot of reform. They have to work on the legal system to stop these multi-million dollar payouts. Once those payouts are set at a more reasonable level, then they need to work on the insurance companies. As I said, we’re a country of about 16 million people. Kids are covered at no cost to the parents. We probably have as many insurance companies here as there are in the US. But they almost always make a profit. Our insurance company is a cooperative/non-profit deal. So any profit is shared with the policy holders. That 9 euro profit share we got excited me so much, I went out and bought sock yarn. *grin* We also have our home/renters insurance with them and it’s dirt cheap for a lot of coverage.

The US also needs to work on it’s higher education system. How many brilliant teenagers are stuck working in blue collar jobs because they couldn’t afford college? But that is a rant for another day.

I’m bad about letting things go. I know that for a fact. I’m even worse at letting go of things that I perceive as personal. Which means that if you treat me badly, insult me, or hurt my feelings to the point that I cut off contact with you…….. Yeah, not gonna let it go.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that’s probably because I take a lot from people I consider friends. I’m not going to cut contact with you because you forget to call once in a while, or you don’t email me back. I even let casual insults slide. Believe it or not, I’m a really nice person.  For the most part.

But……. oh you knew there was a ‘but’ coming up, didn’t you, gentle reader? BUT!! If  you continually insult me, my lifestyle, my kitchen appliances, my habits, and my hobbies, I’m going to have issues.  If I offer you my friendship, no strings attached and after painstaking review of said friendship, I detect a distinct pattern of it being ME that’s doing all the giving, I’m going to have issues. Eventually, I’ll say something to you about this. I’ll give you a chance to explain/apologize/whatever.

Doesn’t mean I’ll let it go, though. It’ll still hurt me and I’ll still get angry that once again, I let someone treat me like crap. Especially when you claim to have ‘valid reasons’ for treating me like I’m less than human and refuse to respond directly to what I say.

I’m not sure that I’ll ever learn to let things like this go. Maybe if I did, I wouldn’t be me and that might just be bigger loss than letting go of things that hurt me.

You know, for ‘JUST’ a housewife, I do a lot. And yesterday was no exception.

• 8:30am – Meeting at WeeDutchie’s school for the ouderraad – waslijst en crea.
• 11:45 – WeeDutchie home from school, fix lunch, find swim stuff, get swim stuff together.
• 1:00pm – Opa here to take us to swim lessons since today is a ‘kijkdag’
• 2:00pm – swim lessons
• 8:15pm – ouderraad meeting

And in between all that there is cleaning, laundry, cooking, typing up the waslijst and the letter to go with it, setting up a forum for the ouderraad, getting my notebook together for the ouderraad, and trying to find some time for me.

Next week is fall vacation and somewhere in there, I have to move a walk-in closet, move TallDutchie’s office, clean and paint the smaller bedroom and move WeeDutchie into that smaller bedroom. Maybe I should just make a seperate post of the things I need to accomplish this century.

I’m constantly amazed at people that think being a housewife is easy. I admit, I used to be one of those people. Boy, did I get a rude awakening when I moved here. Even when we were living in the US and I worked full time, I did most of the ‘kid stuff’, but when it came to house cleaning, grocery shopping, household projects, and the like, I had help.  Since we both worked full time, we both cleaned, did laundry, cooked, and we did the grocery shopping together.

Then we moved here and I couldn’t work for almost 2 years because of the whole Immigration deal and the whole language thing. Besides, I wanted to be a housewife. I wanted to be able to be home for WeeDutchie, because my mom was a working mom and I remembered how much it sucked to go to a babysitters or when she had to miss school things because she had to work. I thought, ‘Just how hard can this housewife gig be?’

Reality is a cruel mistress. When you are queen of your own domain, YOU set the schedule and YOU are the CEO, COO, CFO, CIO, secretary, receptionist, facilities manager, entertainment and social director, head cook and bottle washer, and last but not least……. the janitor.

So to anyone that thinks being a housewife is a cushy job? Bite me. You have no clue.

Not that I have any readers left, but what the hell.

New template, maybe new thoughts and hopefully new knitting. I still have to fix some things around here but I think it will clean up nicely.