The saying ‘you get what you deserve’ is quite ancient given its mentioning in the Book of Proverbs, part of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Proverbs “is an example of the Biblical wisdom tradition, and raises questions of values, moral behaviour, the meaning of human life, and right conduct”. (Wiki)
The political landscape of my country – albeit in the polls for the 2017 Dutch general election – is changing fast. The predominantly right-wing populist Freedom Party of Geert Wilders (anti Islam, anti refugees, pro elderly care) is heading for 42 – nearly 1/3 – of the total of 150 parliamentary seats. Currently his party has 12 seats. The 70 year old social-democratic Labour Party is heading for a dramatic fall to 9 seats while having 36 now.
The 2016 political landscape in the USA might be the weirdest ever. On the far-left and the far-right two very successful candidates have emerged from the shadows of an expected Bush-Clinton race: Mr Sanders and Mr Trump. Mr Bush may give up anytime soon. Mrs Clinton is much less likely to do so. Mr Sanders may make the USA the largest social-democratic country ever, bypassing some countries which carry socialism in name rather than deeds. Mr Trump would be able to alienate the USA from its friends and further increase its number of enemies.
The VW-Audi emission scandal eroded the consumer trust in products labelled “Made in Germany”. It’s still doubtful whether the VW-Audi Group can even survive the American lawsuits; see my 22 September 2015 blog. Despite the Russian PM’s ulterior motives, he is right in saying “It is just stupid to open the European doors and invite everyone that wants to come to Europe” about the German Chancellor’s “open-door” refugee policy. (Politico)
One could argue that these countries – Germany, Netherlands and USA – get what they deserve. Germany gets what it deserves as their leadership culture lacks proper checks and balances (eg, refugees, Volkswagen). This enables their leaders to rule from an ivory tower, surrounded by fear for its leaders. This fear even freezes the information flow to its leaders (eg, Cologne, VW). The German culture of superior orders – with no questions asked – still seems to rule.
The Netherlands gets what it deserves as mainstream political parties are still making the very same mistakes as they did before with Pim Fortuyn, the successful politician and professor, who was murdered in 2002 by an environmental and animal rights activist prior to the 2002 Dutch general election. The views of Mr Fortuyn and Mr Wilders on the hottest political issues (eg, Islam and refugees) are virtually the same. Nevertheless mainstream political parties are very slow in accepting the voters’ reasons behind the success of these parties.
The USA gets what it deserves for several reasons: (1) The US presidential elections are basically for sale to the wealthiest people with political aspirations; (2) The two political parties hardly reflect the nature of the US population; (3) The popular vote does not even count in this democracy, and (4) The two political parties are like two Japanese Sumo wrestlers fighting for total surrender while leaving the US government in a deadlock situation.
You get what you deserve – including its synonyms “what goes around comes around” or “what you sow, you shall reap” – refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect) – or karma.
You Get What You Give (1998) by The New Radicals – artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
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