The Netherlands is like a park. Nothing is authentic, real or untouched. Every single blade of grass was put somewhere with purpose. Every tree has a permit for existence, and it will keep it until someone asks for a permit to have someone else cut it down. You can drive for hours on the vast network of roads that cross this country, and you will not find a single hole or bump until you reach the border. Mirror smooth highways connect cities full of traffic lights, road signs and cyclists. Looking out the window, flat green grasslands stretch to the horizon. The grass was planted, artificially fertilized and maintained in perfect state by computer programs and algorithms. Any animal in sight is owned by someone and tracked by a computer. These fields make a nation of only 17 million people the second largest food producer in the world. The agricultural entrepreneurs get government subsidies and thereby manage to keep the production costs and prices low. This money flows back into the state treasury, upholding an ever growing production. At night the roads light up under the glow of a sea of yellow lights. White windmills spin in the ever blowing winds that arrive on the coastline from the open water. Shades of grey and indigo move across the starless sky as the rain particles blur the colors as if the view was painted by pastel crayons. Moonlight faintly shines on any dark spots the coordinated rows of electric energy happen to miss. The countless Dutch engineers constructed intricated systems of bridges, turns and tunnels that make the ways look like a video game. The scenery is hauntingly organised, providing us with a feeling of simultaneous comfort and unease. It is easy to see why people would want to live on this cold, wet piece of the earth. Children sleep inside houses, their parents enjoy warm meals and criminals are locked up and treated so they can continue their lives. Elders get money and medical treatment in the best way possible until the end of their usually long and happy lives. People voice their opinions without prosecution, are able to marry someone with any gender and will get government assistance if they are looking for a job. This is the type of nation that inspires and appeals. Yet something feels off. Like something is lurking under the surface. Nature doesn’t work this way. Society doesn’t work this way. People don’t feel this way. This world is plastic.

The aforementioned windmills don’t run. At times they cost more energy than they deliver. We make World cup organisation bids based on green initiatives and bicycles. Everyone seems to believe we are a world leader in green initiatives and sustainability. But this is fake. At this moment the Netherlands is doing the second worst of all EU-states in both renewable energy, and emissions per capita. We sell giant amounts of petroleum gas, shaking the fundaments of an entire province. Yet the world seems convinced. Our prime minister says making energy renewable is a joint effort that we cannot carry out alone. He forgets to mention we are the ones lagging behind. There are virtually no guns in the country, yet we sell so many of them without a doubt that we are among the biggest arms dealers in the world. We give out subsidies masked as developmental aid to multinationals to outcompete local producers in developing nations and get praise for it. We then continue to point and blame other countries for not doing the same. We claim to be a nation of freedom but slyly leave out the fact that freedom only exists if you are part of the right group. If you are voicing the opinion of a minority, people can scold or threaten you, limit your freedom, usually without prosecution. We support political parties that have intentions of breaking fundamental human rights. We pretend to be the safe beacon for refugees, whilst refusing to pick them up from Greece as promised. We sign dubious deals to rob innocent war victims of a future and proudly pat ourselves on the back for being so humane. We provide shelter for political asylum seekers, but have no problems with sending them and their children back when we consider the situation ‘safe’. Problems only matter as far as we can see

Of course I’m proud of the image we try to portray to the world, and the nation is filled with passionate people that try their best to shape an ideal society. The two-facedness of the national identity is obviously better than nothing. And it has historical background. The fundamental values of tolerance and helpfulness are and were a deliberate choice. There’s always been more to the equation than the sole existence of good heart. I strongly believe the good image we (often also rightfully) portray finds its base in pragmatism rather than having an altruistic nature. From the acceptance of foreign intellectuals, to the resistance to the Spanish inquisition, everything is rooted in economic interests. The merchant controls the strings of the preacher. This creates an internal divide in the population as well. This double image leads to a sense of pride for the Dutch people, but also to the sense that they are always the one making the sacrifices whilst the world mercilessly laughs at the idealistic efforts of our nation. Some people even believe other countries, companies and people are bound to take advantage of our naïve nature. They do not realise nothing in this country is left to surprise. It does however lead to a big hit for the famous Dutch acceptance and tolerance that foreign visitors don’t experience a little too often. In this way maintaining an image is a façade. A stranger will never be invited over to dinner inside a house, but the curtains will be left open so that everyone can see what’s going on inside. We laugh at displays of nationalism in foreign countries, but fall into a collective cramp when an international institution criticises a part of our national culture. No one should dare to judge us or tell us what to do because we are more humane and better in every way. I’d laugh if the sheer irony wasn’t so striking. The false sense of self-righteousness makes the base for our reputation frail and superficial. It’s a classic tale of the emperors clothes.

But this assessment leaves us at a crossroads. There’s two paths to go by at this point. One solution is to follow our current political discourse and keep drifting further away from the image that we wanted to portray. We will increase the economic focus on our state, break international agreements and conjure the spirit of nationalism. We will call any Dutch person that dares to challenge our beliefs oikophobic and accuse him of treason. International criticism will be wiped under the carpet by returning the criticism. But why would we want to go down this road? Not only will it break from everything we used to stand for, it will make matters worse for all parties involved. Reclaiming our national pride isn’t done by closing borders and our minds for criticism. The way to establish our presence on the international stage is not by following others, but to try to live up to the standards we set for others. Lead by example instead of by words. There are many things that are exemplary for the Dutch state we built that we can actually be proud of. Basic values as equality, protection of minorities, tolerance and mutual compassion do not water our national identity down, but rather should define it. We provide the best and most equal possible beginning conditions for every baby that’s born because we wisely decided that giving a percentage of our money to a government we trust would help working towards a state without suffering. We limited crime, not by punishment and fear, but by conversation and opportunities. Lets keep making an impact by reducing pollution, helping the poor abroad and providing individual freedom for every citizen, within the limits of our fundamental law. That is what the core of our national identity should be. In this way we can be proud of the way we live up to being the state we believed we are, and want to be seen as. We have always set our own agenda and followed our own beliefs on the international stage. From the days we ruled the worlds seas on dubious premises to the times the Dutch economic disease was an actual problem in the Europe, we have always decided the course of our own path. And that is what we should do now. Use our god given arrogance in a positive way to try to have the most beneficial presence for the rest of the world as possible. It will continue to help us forward as well. In other words, the preacher should stop lying and the merchant should take a slight step down. And that would thoroughly give us a national identity to value.