It remains a strange contradiction. On the one hand, the Netherlands has consistently scored high in recent years when examining how satisfied we are. According to recent figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics, almost 80 percent of adults are satisfied with their lives, 2 percent were dissatisfied and 12 percent indicated that they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. The number of satisfied people was even higher than in 2013 World Happiness Report According to the United Nations, the Netherlands ranks fifth in the list of happiest countries worldwide.

On the other hand, more and more people appear dissatisfied. Witness, among other things, the rapid growth of the Forum for Democracy, which makes it clear that a large group of Dutch people are not happy with the choices that politicians are now making. Our society seems to be becoming increasingly polarized. Previously there were mainly voices from the right flank of society, but now you increasingly hear dissatisfied reactions from the left flank. The age-old polder model that functioned so well in the Netherlands is under pressure.

At the Issuemakers we are constantly working on issues. The development of an issue always follows a recognizable pattern, a so-called issue curve. The issue curve has different life phases that follow each other. After an issue has been dormant for a while, it is put on the agenda and then labeled and framed. An issue then enters a phase in which supporters and opponents start to stir, allowing the issue to grow. In the past, we were used to a form of discussing the issue in which different parties entered into dialogue with each other in a constructive manner and exchanged arguments, but this seems to be increasingly being exchanged for a more activist approach. Of course, an issue cannot grow without controversy. But you have to wonder whether the confrontational way in which, for example, the left-wing signature of teachers was recently put on the agenda, contributes in a constructive way to solving issues.