Defeat the modernity

Sadly the Dutch are turning back:

In cities across the Netherlands,
mayors and town councils are closing down shops where marijuana is
sold, rolled and smoked.  Municipalities are shuttering the brothels
where prostitutes have been allowed to ply their trade legally. 
Parliament is considering a ban on the sale of hallucinogenic "magic
mushrooms."  Orthodox Christian members of parliament have introduced a
bill that would allow civil officials with moral objections to refuse
to perform gay marriages.  And Dutch authorities are trying to curtail
the activities of an abortion rights group that assists women in
neighboring countries where abortions are illegal.

The very interesting article ascribes these tendencies to growing unease about globalization and immigration.  Here is another shift of opinion:

"In the past, we looked at legal prostitution as a women’s liberation
issue; now it’s looked at as exploitation of women and should be
stopped," said de Wolf, sitting in the offices of the medical complex
where he works as an HIV-AIDS researcher.

This article can be read as illustrating many different points of view.  I’ll start with two points.  First, people [voters] need to feel they are in control, even if they indulge this preference irrationally.  Second, Europe will sooner become like the United States than vice versa.