2 ms·
I admire Switzerland's system, where the people can petition for a referendum to delete any law they don't like. This forces the politicians to negotiate with
by mikem170 5y ago
I admire Switzerland's system, where the people can petition for a referendum to delete any law they don't like.
This forces the politicians to negotiate with motivated minorities before creating new laws.
Instead in the U.S. we allow rich people and corporations (who are not voters!) to give money to politicians. In most other democracies this is illegal and considered to be corrupt.
- int_19h 5y agoSwiss system also allows people to pass any law that they like. For example, the infamous law banning construction of minarets. I'm also not sure how this is supposed to help minorities (motivated or otherwise), since the referendum is country-wide.
- mikem170 5y agoThanks for your comment, I had not heard of the minaret ban [0], which was an amendment passed by a double-majority (people and cantons), and was considered to violate existing constitutional protections. I guess this is what happens in a democracy when enough people believe in doing something, even if that something is not right by everyone. Many forms of government are susceptible to this, depending on the culture. The world would be a better place if people had more respect for each other. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Swiss_minaret_referendum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Swiss_minaret_referendum