They base their arguments an the fact that Le Pen received 17% of the vote in the first round of the French Presidntial elections. Le Pen almost always receives 15 to 17% of the vote ! That’s the total of his contituency.

It should also be noted that the “far Left” in France won 10% of the first presidential round, but this did not signal a new threat of Communism.

More important for The Netherlands, however, was the fact that Fortuyn brought to Dutch poltics the sense that all is not well and that Utopia has not yet been realised, something usually

unspoken – in public, at least - and by politicians, not at all.

The projected image is that The Netherlands is the best of all possible worlds and the dream of Voltaire’s Dr. Panglos has been achieved.

"Everything is for the best in the best of possible worlds."

Such was the general intellectual climate of The Netherlands. Then came Pim Fortuyn and the pent-up emotions of decades of acceptance began to stretch and consider that maybe, just maybe, there might be room for improvement.

Pim Fortuyn was not a saint, a villain, a hero or maybe even a good politician.

Pim Fortuyn was a catalyst with a touch of the theatrical – a man who dared breach the respected norms of society in an attempt to voice the thoughts of the silent.

The Netherlands will miss him.

Paul V. Rafferty

Reuters Photo