Ignore all the baloney against direct democracy. Some say direct democracy can turn into a dictatorship of the majority; there is a big fat zero of evidence of that!
Some people believe that if voters directly decide issues they will make short-term, frivolous, irresponsible decisions; the facts shows it is the opposite; voters make better, sounder decisions than elected politicians. There are many reasons for that, but I will leave it for another post.
Let us look now at the economy and direct democracy. The most practical way to do it is by looking at Switzerland.
I use Switzerland as the reference because it is the only society in the World practising direct democracy in all levels of government; local, cantonal (the Swiss canton are similar to states or governments in other federal nations), and also at the national level.
Let us look at how direct democracy is good for the economy too; for business and for jobs.
Look at the facts;
Value of high tech exports per capita: Switzerland is twice Germany’s and 7 times more than the US!
Economic stability: Highest in the World.
Quality of governance: Switzerland ranks number one.
GDP per capita: 69 358 USD. Second highest in the World.
Unemployment rate: 3.5%, one of the lowest anywhere.
Youth unemployment rate: 3.3%, yes 3.3%!, lower than any other developed nation.
Government deficit % of GDP: +1.4 (no deficit). Most representative democracies have deficits, often stratospheric !
General government debt as % of GDP: 41.1, one of the lowest among advanced countries.
Income tax: 40% and lower than most other countries.
Corporate tax: 18%, one of the lowest in the developed World.
Health System: Universal coverage and best in the World according to most studies.
University education: University tuition is about one thousand USD in public universities. Most universities are public and of excellent quality.
You can compare those facts with representative “democracy” countries; just enter in Internet “ranking of countries by…” unemployment, health care quality, etc.
Direct democracy is good for the economy because it develops voters into decision-makers, into very responsible voters.
In a direct democracy seductive speakers, charisma, do not much matter in politicians because politicians do not have the power they have in a representative democracy. In a direct democracy like Switzerland, voters are not interested in seductive, “smoke and mirrors” political marketing; they know there are lies, big lies and political marketing… The Swiss see that all around them.
In a direct democracy, voters quickly learn they are the highest authority in the land and they rise to that responsibility.
Fortunately, the World is re-awakening to direct democracy; we all have to thank the Swiss for being the new pioneers.
Representative democracies need to switch to direct democracy now; the politicians of representative democracies have been diverging more and more from the will of the people. This is endangering the stability of those societies where trust in politicians is at the lowest levels ever.
In Switzerland that has not happened; at 80% the level of trust, trust in politicians is the highest. The Swiss trust their politicians, nobody else comes close. This is because of direct democracy; the politicians do what the people want them to do, not what the lobbies, etc., want.
Direct democracy was, and is, another huge advance in human civilization.
So, we have now another reason to persuade others direct democracy is what we need; the economy, jobs.
Think about and then, do something!
