It is almost 2 A.M. Dutch time, I am listening to Beethoven and I am tired of one thing in particular. There is this divide in politics where many people, including politicians say you are either left or right. Even worse sometimes you are not even allowed to disagree and any criticism of this “two-sides only” situation is not allowed.

This is something I observed in the past years and gets emphasised during election periods, U.S or Netherlands it does not matter. When you question the people who confront you with this “are you for or against?” attitude by asking for solutions they often try to avoid the hard questions.

I find politics interesting but when the people in power, parliament or the cabinet focus more on rhetoric than solutions I do not care. They are not effective so they become useless, simple as that. Leftist socialism or right-ish liberalism, who cares when those long words contribute to nothing?

If politicians should do one thing to get my interest, they only have to do one thing: explain your plan and I make time to listen. I am talking about feasibility studies and business plan style documents, not some vague promises like “Make America Great Again” as if you want to conquer the world.

The fact that most media prefer sound-bites because faster turn-over generates more revenues I understand. What I do not understand is that many people, sometimes even journalists continue to fall for “choose a side” rhetoric.

When you think like an accountant you want to see claims backed up by assets and liabilities. Think like an analyst and you ask “why?”, “how?” and “when?” Think like an entrepreneur and ask “will this solution work and add value?” It really is not that difficult.

If there is one thing that annoyed me it is the lack of the above mentioned analysis in recent times. Worse, when you do find this kind of analysis it is often ignored because “analysis requires thinking.”

Next time you ask me me whether I am left or right my answer is simple: I want solutions, explain or stop wasting my time…