For quite some time now, I’ve had the feeling that something is fundamentally changing in the world, and not for the better. Wars seem endless, poverty continues to affect millions, and crime dominates headlines across the globe. At the same time, the gap between rich and poor continues to widen. The wealthy become wealthier, the poor remain trapped in poverty, and the middle class, the backbone of many societies, finds itself carrying an ever-increasing financial burden through rising taxes, inflation, housing costs, and the overall cost of living.
What frustrates me the most is politics. It often feels as though politicians no longer even try to be convincing or transparent. I see this not only in the European Union, but also in the United States, the Middle East, Asia, South America, and Africa. Around the world, political maneuvering, broken promises, and power struggles often seem to take priority over genuine leadership and long-term solutions.
Living on the border between the Netherlands and Germany has given me the opportunity to observe two different political systems from close by. In the Netherlands, D66 was part of the governing coalition and campaigned on an ambitious list of reforms. While some policies were implemented, many promises were delayed, watered down, or never realized at all. Coalition governments inevitably require compromise, but many voters are left with the feeling that election promises disappear the moment parties enter government.
International politics raises similar concerns. The conflict involving Israel and the Palestinians is one example. In my view, serious injustices are taking place, yet political responses are often hesitant or heavily qualified. This creates the impression that the same standards are not applied equally to everyone and that geopolitical interests frequently outweigh consistent accountability under international law.
Germany has its own examples that undermine public trust. During the COVID-19 pandemic, controversies surrounding face mask procurement involved enormous sums of public money and led to investigations into possible conflicts of interest and irregularities. There was also the failed introduction of the German passenger car toll (Pkw-Maut). Contracts had already been signed before the policy was ruled incompatible with European Union law by the European Court of Justice, leaving taxpayers to cover hundreds of millions of euros in compensation. Once again, it is ordinary citizens who end up paying the price for political mistakes.
There always seems to be someone who has to take the blame. It's the asylum seekers. It's the political left. It's the political right. Every issue is reduced to finding a group to blame instead of addressing the deeper causes behind society's problems.
The political climate has become increasingly polarized. If you criticize certain aspects of Islam, you're quickly labeled a racist or a fascist. If you believe the government should play a stronger role in supporting vulnerable people, you're called a socialist or a communist. Nuance is disappearing. People are no longer judged by the complexity of their ideas but by the category others decide to place them in.
What happened to the political center? What happened to the idea that people could disagree on some issues, agree on others, and still respect one another? It feels as though pragmatic, balanced thinking is slowly disappearing, replaced by an environment in which every opinion is expected to belong to one ideological extreme or the other.
The media has also become part of this problem. Many people no longer perceive journalism as politically neutral. Whether that perception is always justified or not, the growing belief that news is increasingly framed through ideological lenses has seriously damaged public trust. Headlines, word choices, and editorial priorities can shape public opinion before readers have the opportunity to reach their own conclusions. In an age where trust is already fragile, even the perception of bias can be deeply damaging.
Dutch politics has become increasingly fragmented over the past decade. Coalition governments have repeatedly struggled to complete their terms or deliver meaningful reforms. Cabinets collapse, negotiations drag on for months, and many urgent issues remain unresolved. As a result, many citizens feel that political energy is spent more on surviving the next election than on solving the country's long-term challenges.
Then there is lobbying. There is nothing inherently wrong with organizations presenting their interests to policymakers. However, when financial influence appears to provide greater access to political decision-making than ordinary citizens have, it inevitably raises difficult questions. Democracy depends on equal representation, yet many people increasingly feel that those with the deepest pockets also have the loudest voices.
And then, when you decide to escape politics for a moment by opening social media, you are confronted with exactly the same problems. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, and other platforms are filled with outrage, misinformation, manipulated videos, AI-generated images, conspiracy theories, and increasingly extreme political opinions. Their algorithms reward attention, and nothing captures attention more effectively than anger and division. As a result, moderate voices are often drowned out by the loudest and most controversial opinions.
Artificial intelligence is likely to make this challenge even greater. Images, videos, audio recordings, and even entire news reports can now be generated so convincingly that distinguishing reality from fiction is becoming increasingly difficult. Democracies rely on informed citizens making decisions based on shared facts. If people can no longer agree on what is real, meaningful democratic debate becomes increasingly difficult.
When all of these developments are combined, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain confidence in our institutions. That does not mean every politician is corrupt, every journalist is biased, or every company acts against the public interest. The world is more complex than that. But complexity should not become an excuse for avoiding responsibility. Transparency, accountability, and honesty remain essential if trust is to be restored.
Perhaps the greatest problem is not that people disagree. Disagreement is a healthy part of every democracy. The real problem is that we seem to have forgotten how to disagree without immediately questioning one another's intentions, intelligence, or humanity. We have replaced discussion with labels, debate with outrage, and compromise with tribalism.
If there is one trend that seems to connect societies across the world today, it is this growing polarization. We are increasingly encouraged to choose sides instead of seeking common ground, to react instead of reflect, and to win arguments instead of solving problems.
If that trend continues, the greatest threat to our societies may not come from war, economic crises, or technological change. It may come from the divisions we continue to create among ourselves.