Item — HN Reader

As we can see with Switzerland, it strenghtens extreme positions.

Let me ask you a question: why should people in Northrhine-Westphalia "decide for" people in Bavaria? Shouldn't we dissolve our federal parliament?

Having done that, why do the people living in Stuttgart "decide for" the people living in Karlsruhe? Shouldn't we dissolve the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg?

The answer is, of course, that decisions should be made at the lowest level where they are making sense. And in this regard the EU is imperfect.

But you're throwing out the baby with the bath water.

3 comments

The referendum system has been in place for more than a hundred years and it's hard to argue that Switzerland has a tradition of extremism.

Far right parties are on the rise everywhere in Europe, regardless of the voting system.

Obviously you didn't understand how Swiss federalism works. We (generally) do not decide for/against other cantons or tell them how they should handle things. Unless it's something that concerns the whole country equally.

See the vote today: There was an initiative about the abolition of flat taxes for rich non-working foreigners. It was broadly rejected around the country. But if a canton still wants to abolish it, they can do that (and some of them do it already).

That it strengthens extreme positions is rubbish. And even if it does, it would have a ridiculously small effect.

Once abolition of slavery was an "extreme position", wouldn't it have been better that the US voted on it, rather than burning down the country?