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short answer? not that much. longer - yes it's supremely well working society. society built from single atomic pieces called citizens. remove/change them, and

short answer? not that much. longer - yes it's supremely well working society. society built from single atomic pieces called citizens. remove/change them, and whole thing will fall apart like house of cards. people here are given a lot of freedom, hence responsibility over their lives, ie through direct voting. as we saw with britain, similar approach clearly fails when tried even in another modern western country (yes I call it a failure, not because of result, but because the way whole thing has been done) I mean, this is the country that publicly voted NO to extend 4 weeks of paid vacation per year to 6. I don't know a single other place where people would vote against their own interests (maybe Singapore? but that's not democracy to start with). And countless other examples. this country was done via 800 years of struggle through violent events in Europe, and somehow it remained what it is now. you cannot expect to have this "national experience" present somewhere else, and randomly copy pasting something that makes sense here to other place won't work. because of people. don't get me wrong - I wish it would be possible, but I don't see any way.

jernfrost 10y ago
But that is exactly what the EU can learn from Switzerland. The need to build a culture of responsibility in democratic votes. The need for letting this thing take its time. Switzerland took a log time to mature. We should learn from this and not rush a much bigger superstate into existence.
rdrock 10y ago
Don't get me wrong, I admire the swiss. But attributing a nations success to higher moral standards of individual people is crazy. The swiss might exhibit admirable qualities worth emulating but those qualities might as well be the result of a rich and stable environment the country had over the generations. That environment was also bought by providing "safe havens for the wealth of dictators and despots, mobsters and arms dealers, corrupt officials, and tax cheats of all kinds" and staying equally un-committed to both sides in WW2 when one of them was Hitler is not something to write home either.
misja111 10y ago
I don't think Swiss people are inherently more responsible or morally on a higher level than other Europeans. How could they be? Switzerland is in the middle of Europe and through the ages many waves of immigration have occurred from all the neighboring countries. Even today almost 25% of Swiss people are immigrants! Why people in Switzerland seem to vote more responsibly than in other countries is exactly because they are getting more chances to vote. Give a person responsibility, and he will tend to act responsible. Treat a person like a child, and he will start to behave like one. This is IMO what is happening in the UK and in other countries. Many people voted against the 'sensible choice', against the intellectual elite as a protest, because they wanted to be heard. The answer is not to take away voting opportunities from people, but to give them more.

jernfrost 10y ago

But that is exactly what the EU can learn from Switzerland. The need to build a culture of responsibility in democratic votes. The need for letting this thing take its time. Switzerland took a log time to mature. We should learn from this and not rush a much bigger superstate into existence.

rdrock 10y ago

Don't get me wrong, I admire the swiss. But attributing a nations success to higher moral standards of individual people is crazy. The swiss might exhibit admirable qualities worth emulating but those qualities might as well be the result of a rich and stable environment the country had over the generations. That environment was also bought by providing "safe havens for the wealth of dictators and despots, mobsters and arms dealers, corrupt officials, and tax cheats of all kinds" and staying equally un-committed to both sides in WW2 when one of them was Hitler is not something to write home either.

misja111 10y ago

I don't think Swiss people are inherently more responsible or morally on a higher level than other Europeans. How could they be? Switzerland is in the middle of Europe and through the ages many waves of immigration have occurred from all the neighboring countries. Even today almost 25% of Swiss people are immigrants! Why people in Switzerland seem to vote more responsibly than in other countries is exactly because they are getting more chances to vote. Give a person responsibility, and he will tend to act responsible. Treat a person like a child, and he will start to behave like one. This is IMO what is happening in the UK and in other countries. Many people voted against the 'sensible choice', against the intellectual elite as a protest, because they wanted to be heard. The answer is not to take away voting opportunities from people, but to give them more.