Can the European Union Learn from Switzerland? (2014)
tillrahn.com
tillrahn.com
I think that is the main problem with the EU today. Too many career politician with grand visions. We need people more rooted in reality who understand and respect national differences and don't pretend we are all so dam equal.
To clarify, we are equal in value, but not in customs, expectations and nature.
I think all Europeans want to be together, but we don't fully trust each other and that must be taken into account.
I have a lot of things to say about career politicians, but grand visions clearly isn't the first thing that comes to my mind.
> We need people more rooted in reality
I know many people who would say that Realpolitik and lack of ideals is actually what is poisoning the EU.
It's interesting that the same idea for the Grande unification comes up at least once per century, just repacked in a different ideology.
They don't seem to take any practical considerations to things like there are countries like Greece which simply hasn't solved the problem of collecting taxes and spending within means. 100 German economist signed a petition against Greece joining the Euro, because they said exactly what happened would happen. Instead the pragmatists were overruled by the dreamers.
The ones who have suffered the most due to these dreamers are the Greeks themselves. Real love is setting proper boundaries and not just give into anybody's indulgences.
This is a shockingly good and after-the-fact obvious suggestion. Can someone help me understand why the Parliament (popular)/Council (national ministers) structure [1] isn't this?
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_legislative_p...
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.
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.