Demagogue

Can you imagine the U.S. federal government, or the government of a state, saying something like the following? Now try to imagine that the party in power is a right-of-center, pro-business, anti-regulatory party. Don't try too hard, though, or your head might explode.

The Liberal Party is pushing a plan to make childcare facilities more accessible for working parents. Under the plan, the employee, the employer, and the government would each pay one-third of the cost.

Eighty percent of Dutch employers already pay the one-third voluntarily. This is what the leader of the Liberal Party, Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm, had to say about that:

Zalm said this figure must rise to 90 percent by the middle of 2006, or else a compulsory contribution for employers would be unavoidable.