I have been interested in politics since I was very young, I remember discussing it with my grandmother when I was 11, how the political system in Denmark works. From the get go I have been oriented towards the right and even some times to the far right with regards to financial and social politics, and if I am honest when I was young and naive I leaned towards the far right on immigration as well. However, when I reached my late teens I had moved closer to the mid of the right wing, so parties such as Venstre, Konservative, and in later years Liberal Alliance.

For a long time I saw these parties as protectors of the people, who believed in freedom of the people and provide a good society with minimal interference from the government. But a shift in danish politics have happened with the last decade, or it actually started in 2001 with the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. The shift was that instead of having a trusting and at ease population, the politicians was/is now making decisions for- and leading a people which is terrified of terrorist attacks, immigrants, and refuges. The problem with this is that the leaders of the politicians are the voters and when the voters are scared, the politicians capitalise on this by implementing a lot of strict policies with regards to immigration and refugees. The tension internally in Denmark have been hidden from the outside for quite a while, but over time our integration and refuge policies and how they have been tighten have reached outside our country. However, one thing that most do not know and which surprises most when I talk to others, is the surveillance laws which have either been suggest or either implemented. These laws includes CCTV surveillance, ISP customer session logging, and implementation of DNA register. The last two have not yet been past in to law, but it is balancing on the edge of knife. What surprised me and still does, is that the parties which suggested this was the liberal parties that I was such a strong supported of. I had to realise these parties was capitalising in a manner I could not support as it was not liberalism it was something else. They want to build a surveillance society that hasn’t really been seen in the countries which are members of European Union since the east block exist and was destroyed in 1989 and early nineties.

Another thing is also that a lot of the parties, especially looking at you Venstre, has changed from a liberal and capitalist parties too almost solely capitalist parties, which is also terrifying as the capitalist mentality always moves towards the money and not always what is beneficial for the society. For example privatising DSB, a danish railways company, have made it so bad and it was predicted by most people.

I simply cannot stand by the ideals of these parties which calls them self liberal and are not. Therefore, with elections coming up I am currently reevaluating my political stand points and what I should vote for. One thing is for sure I am still a liberal and I will help fighting the new Stasi society that a lot of European government are trying to create.

-Lars Nielsen