Currently, Switzerland's political system is most close to what I call direct democracy (although, in reality, it still isn't a true direct democracy - I can explain this point later). A referendum is held in the country every three months. Below, I will share what I know about Switzerland. I have 12 points, but for now, I will present five:


1) According to WHO data, Switzerland has a suicide rate of 9.8 per 100,000 people (2019). For comparison, WHO figures show rates of 14.5 for the USA, 21.6 for Russia, and 21.2 for South Korea. It is also worth noting that euthanasia is legal in Switzerland, which implies that suicide is less stigmatized there than in other countries;

2) In a "lost wallet" experiment, the Swiss proved to be the most honest people among those studied: they returned the wallet (without the cash, but with the key) in 73 percent of cases. The Chinese were found to be the least honest, returning the wallet only in 7 percent of cases;


3) According to UN data, the obesity rate in Switzerland is 19.5% (for comparison: 36.2% in the USA, 23.1% in Russia, and 32% in Egypt (2019));

4) Switzerland ranks first in the world for life expectancy for men (81 years) and sixth for women (85 years).

5) According to 2021y data I found online, Switzerland has the smallest shadow economy among 31 European countries (it stands at 5.8% of GDP, compared to 13% in France, 16% in Belgium, 22% in Poland, and 32% in Turkey).

ZZZZzzzzz.......😴

8 hours ago, Linkey said:

Currently, Switzerland's political system is most close to what I call direct democracy

Have you been to Switzerland ?
The place is boooring !!

Every city sits next to a lake, and is kept perfectly clean ( or you get fined ).
Everybody follows all traffic signs and rules ( or you get fined )
Everyone lives in 6-8 unit apartment buildings, and home ownership is among the lowest in Europe ( immigrants weren't even allowed to buy property until 1996 ).
They claim strict neutrality yet are always willing to 'accommodate' whoever is winning at the time for their own gain( repository for vast amounts of WW2 NAZI gold ).
They are only slightly behind the US in gun deaths per year as a percentage of population.
Shall I go on ???

The point is, every country has its good and bad points, and, unless we are talking about the US, the good and bad are not strictly due to its Government.

Disclaimer : My dad worked in Switzerland until I was 9 years old and I saw him a month in the summer, plus Christmas/Easter. He could not move our family to Switzerland, and we could not buy a home there in the late 60s. Canada was much more accommodating, so we came here, where we were together.

Edited Friday at 01:57 PM3 days by MigL

8 hours ago, Linkey said:

Below, I will share what I know about Switzerland

What would be important is causally connecting these alleged facts (they are unsupported) with their form of government.

Switzerland’s suicide rate, for example, is 128th in the world. Hardly a ringing endorsement, if it’s caused by having referendums. Your cherry-picked examples don’t change this. North Korea has a lower rate. Is that an endorsement of their system of government?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

1 hour ago, swansont said:

North Korea has a lower rate. Is that an endorsement of their system of government?

It's only low in NK because something or someone else usually kills you first. 😁

And it's low in Switzerland because they are, as @MigL alluded to, neurotically law-abiding. If you're Swiss and want to commit suicide you patiently wait until you're very ill and can obtain a doctor's permission.

2 hours ago, MigL said:

Shall I go on ???

Got a job there in an apple factory farm .The boss had a word in our ear not to let on to the other (must have been darker skinned) migrant workers how much we were being paid.

Still I remember the beautiful circling sight of their green fields as I took the plane back from USA to European "civilization" back in the 70s-never to return.

Edited Friday at 04:15 PM3 days by geordief

This is the issue if one forcefully tries to connect random things without being able to explain the connection.

For example countries with the lowest suicide rates include Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia. Those countries also have the lowest pork consumption. Therefore, we should stop eating pork to reduce suicide rates.

2 hours ago, TheVat said:

It's only low in NK because something or someone else usually kills you first. 😁

And it's low in Switzerland because they are, as @MigL alluded to, neurotically law-abiding. If you're Swiss and want to commit suicide you patiently wait until you're very ill and can obtain a doctor's permission.

I think 128th is not low; it’s not even in the top half of countries, hence the cherry picking comment. There’s no obvious connection to form of government. And your point about NK underscores the lack of nuance here, which I objected to.

So, to be clearer, to the extent you can call the elements of the OP arguments, they are really crappy arguments.

14 hours ago, TheVat said:

neurotically law-abiding

Sounds nice. Probably this is because their laws are more rational, than in other Western countries.

5 hours ago, Linkey said:

Sounds nice. Probably this is because their laws are more rational, than in other Western countries.

Once again, asserted without any support whatsoever

Seems to be a problem.

He's been told certain things, but never thought critically about those thins to establish any cause/effect.

6 hours ago, MigL said:

Seems to be a problem.

He's been told certain things, but never thought critically about those thins to establish any cause/effect.

The real problem is there is no shortage of folks like that...

In all times the autocrats use the following rhetoric to justify their wish to keep their power: "the mob is too stupid" and so on. But the fact is, that "the mob is stupid" only because stupid and drinking people are supported and protected by the power, because they are less interested in politics and lefss often criticize the power. I am absolutely serious and I can find a lot of arguments for this statement, both from history or from my own experience. In Russia, there probably was a phrase by Ekatherine the Great - "drunk nation is more easy to govern". She said this phrase, when she was asked, why the government supports the state alcohol monopoly.

It is interesting, how much alcohol do people in Switzerland drink?

I happen to know some very intelligent 'drunks' who would laugh at that argument.

The term 'populism' was originally coined ( probably 1700s in France ) to describe giving a voice to regular people, instead of the 'elite' having all power.
It has since become a term describing the most common, reactionary, "what's in it for me" ( selfish ) instincts of people who don't, or won't, see the larger picture that Governments need to consider ( for the benefit of everyone ).

Which term are you basing your argument on, and explicitly state your reasoning for it, otherwise, you're just flinging sh*t at the wall to see what sticks.

15 hours ago, Linkey said:

In all times the autocrats use the following rhetoric to justify their wish to keep their power: "the mob is too stupid" and so on. But the fact is, that "the mob is stupid" only because stupid and drinking people are supported and protected by the power, because they are less interested in politics and lefss often criticize the power. I am absolutely serious and I can find a lot of arguments for this statement, both from history or from my own experience. In Russia, there probably was a phrase by Ekatherine the Great - "drunk nation is more easy to govern". She said this phrase, when she was asked, why the government supports the state alcohol monopoly.

This doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the topic.

15 hours ago, Linkey said:

It is interesting, how much alcohol do people in Switzerland drink?

Are you too lazy to look this up, or just not capable of doing so?