Twelve Things America Can Learn from the Netherlands Before 2020 Elections

I’m Kelly Hall, an American wife, mom, daughter, sister, colleague & friend leading a diverse, global team based in the Netherlands. Our crew @DSM-Niaga redesigns everyday things like carpets, mattresses and furniture to eliminate toxicity and ensure all materials can be recovered and reused at the end of life. This is a story I love to share, but not the story for today. 

Today, I am extremely concerned about how America is changing in the Trump era. I also believe we can come together in 2020 to rebuild the society Americans deserve. This America should incorporate best practices from around the world, including the best things I see in Dutch life. We are ALWAYS #bettertogether.

Instead of the ridiculously divisive rhetoric that paints conservatives, liberals, independents and socialists as starkly red, blue, yellow and green – which turns into a dirty brown when mixed together at FOX News or CNN - it’s time to start seeing the beautiful rainbow in this diversity. It’s time to open back up to everything we can learn from each other and our friends around the world instead of closing borders, insulting allies and using trade balances as relationship report cards.

As I split my time between my family home in Cleveland and home-away-from-home Amsterdam, I have a wonderful opportunity to observe differences between American and Dutch cultures, norms, policies and ways of life. There couldn’t be a better time to experience the events in the world and the status quo from 30,000 feet… it is crazy, chaotic, confusing, and trending to worse-before-better. It is also easy to see that things can be different – very, very positively different - if we put the greater good before our own self-interest.  

Here are twelve examples of things we can learn from our Dutch friends:

1.)    Paying ~50% income tax is a basic responsibility – and delivers a good quality of life FOR ALL

2.)    Healthcare is for every citizen, every day

3.)    Pharmaceutical drugs can be prescribed only when absolutely necessary

4.)    Companies can work with employees to enable flexible schedules, protect work-life balance and deliver smooth transitions in tough times

5.)    Debit Cards are better than Credit Cards

6.)    No guns do = less violence

7.)    It is possible to manage alcohol, marijuana and prostitution at the surface

8.)    Public transit and pedaling are a great way to GO

9.)    Living in smaller spaces = less resources intensity, more time outside

10.) Great education doesn’t have to cost a fortune or end with massive debt

11.) It can be normal for all citizens to take 2-3 week vacations multiple times each year

12.) Climate action, green energy, sustainable innovation, recycling networks, etc., produce amazing outcomes when taken seriously

Around the world, Americans are envied for our bottomless faith that anything is possible. We are seen as innovators, fierce competitors who love driving change and winning, protectors of fairness and democracy, fast to welcome strangers into our lives and homes. We are capitalists in the sense that anyone can create a business and change our life, our employees’ lives, our communities and our world. We participate in a government that is designed to protect the fair system, support our people, and contribute to universal good.

It is time for America to use our nature, our spirit and our power to improve lives for everyone. We all need to pitch in to address the pervasive undercurrent of fear and anxiety a typical American citizen faces in daily life. THIS IS NOT DAILY LIFE FOR ALL FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD.

If we choose well in 2020, we can start eliminating these things:

• Fear of losing your job and being without health insurance or access to healthcare
• Daily violence and monthly mass-shooting events in schools and public spaces
• No place to go for safe rest, clean water and meals when you are down on your luck
• Distrust of young people and rules that lead to binging, intense drug use and illicit behavior
• Tuition that puts advanced education out of reach without 10-30 years of debt burden
• Subsidies and systems protecting status-quo emissions, toxicity, pollution and behavior from a world leader, damaging our planet beyond repair
• Massive wealth disparity leaving most resources in the hands of few without equal responsibility for a basic quality of life to every member of a great society
• Anxiety retirement savings will run out before you die, leaving us unable to survive on social security after working and paying into the system for 45 years
• And more

I am an American who believes my children and grandchildren deserve the basic quality of life every Dutch child can expect today. It’s time to stop wasting time and energy on divisive conversations and even impeachment hearings and put our massive talents, abundant resources and insatiable appetite for change to good work. The only thing stopping America from becoming a better version of America is Americans. 

Let’s choose our 2020 candidates for every open elected position carefully. Let’s vote for the Republicans, Democrats and Independents who will fight for common ground, for equality, for policies that create a better America for all. The extreme right and extreme left will not deliver this radical change to the greater good… but moderate members of both parties most certainly can.

#bettertogether #makeamericaFORALLagain