Sick of US airports this holiday? Trump will make them a priority.

The Netherlands is one of those places that’s damned frustrating if you’re conservative. When conservatives look at the shortcomings of European socialism, we like to point to the fiscal woes of Greece or the constant strikes in France.

But not the Netherlands.

The place is falling over itself with about as much liberalism as you can imagine, but they manage to be one of the best-run countries in the world. Across so many different quality-of-life indicators, they beat the United States.

The Dutch are even the tallest people in the world.

I particularly think about how well the Netherlands works when I fly through Amsterdam. Schiphol airport is clean, well-organized and inviting. Security through customs is quick and efficient. You can buy genuine Dutch tulips on your layover and give them to anyone in the world when you land, as I did recently for my mom for Christmas.

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(Speaking of tulips, note that the No. 1 agricultural exporter in the world is the massive United States at $118 billion a year, while No. 2 at $79 billion is … the tiny Netherlands is. Such an aggravatingly well-run country!)

I fly through Schiphol fairly regularly since I moved from Washington, D,C., to Dubai; Amsterdam is about equidistant between the East Coast and the Persian Gulf, so it makes for a convenient layover. But the joy I feel passing through Amsterdam disappears should I land in Newark, New Jersey; Baltimore: John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, or — that which must not be named — New York’s other airport, LaGuardia.

I am guardedly optimistic that before too long, American airports can be just as nice as Amsterdam’s. President-elect Donald Trump has frequently stressed the need to make airport improvements a key piece of his infrastructure package. He’s described U.S. airports as “third-world,” “filthy” and “a disgrace” and wants them to be as nice as corresponding airports around the globe.

“Look at what the world is doing to us at every level … the world is literally driving us into being a third-world nation,” he told Anderson Cooper in May. “I travel all over the world and I land at airports the likes of which you’ve never seen, whether it’s in Qatar or Dubai or places in China, the likes of which you have never seen.”

As a Dubai resident, I can certainly agree with him about my city’s airport. Trump revisited the topic of rebuilding airports consistently throughout the campaign, mentioning the same airports at the first presidential debate. In June, he promised, “We will build the greatest infrastructure on the planet earth — the roads and railways and airports of tomorrow.”

{mosads}Trump plans to implement a sweeping plan for modernizing our transportation infrastructure, including airports but also bridges, railroads, and everything in between — following the example of interstate highway-builder President Dwight Eisenhower.

Moreover, the incoming Trump administration has promised to work with Congress to modernize not just our airports but our air traffic control systems. Trump wants to reform both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which should make everyone happy, by ending needlessly long wait-times while making sure travelers are safe from terrorism.

Even though Vice President Joe Biden campaigned against Trump from day one, he agrees with the president-elect on airports. In 2014, Biden called LaGuardia as a “third-world airport,” which drew fire from New Yorkers — most of whom probably complain about their city’s airports more than the rest of us.

There is every reason to be optimistic that Trump’s domestic-infrastructure plan will be positive, one whose priorities are based on need rather than politics. Trump’s detractors frequently forget the independence he brings to the table.

He owes nothing to party leaders and nothing to the federal bureaucracy. He is unbeholden to corporate interests in a way that no other modern presidential candidate has been: He raised only $650 million, which sounds like a lot, but not when compared to Democratic nomine Hillary Clinton’s $1.2 billion. In 2012, both President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney raised over $1 billion as well.

If freedom from special interests is a positive quality in our leaders, it’s definitely in Trump’s plus column.

That’s the same kind of freedom that a small country like the Netherlands enjoys. It’s not really comparable to the United States: Its population of about 17 million puts it somewhere between Illinois and New York state in size. The success of the Netherlands is an example of the efficiency and agility small governments can have over big ones.

Improving our infrastructure is something that’s handled with a maximum of local control with a maximum of federal support. For example, in 2005, a fire broke out at Schiphol, killing 11 and injuring 15 more. Within one year, an investigation proved that fire safety precautions had been ignored — prompting a national outrage and the resignations of Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner, Spatial Planning Minister Sybilla Dekkera and Mayor Fons Hertog.

If that kind of investigation had to go through the slow-moving bureaucrats and endless appeals of the United States, the response would have been painfully slow.

Slow is not something I’m going to expect from the Trump administration on the issue of modernizing our airports. Hopefully our airports will already be looking better for next year’s holiday season.

Jared Whitley is political veteran with 15 years of experience in newspapers and Washington politics. He has served as press liaison for Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and associate director in the White House under George W. Bush and has worked in the defense industry. He is an award-winning writer, having won honors from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Best of the West contest (2016). His works have also appeared in The Weekly Standard, The Daily Caller, The Salt Lake Tribune and Cracked. 

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.