The Swiss are the only first class citizens in the world because, besides having the freedom and power to elect representatives, they have the freedom and the power to decide, by means of referendums initiated by the citizens themselves, ANY issue, any law (including the Constitution), any policy, any decision made by elected politicians or top bureacrats.
Furthermore, any citizen or group of citizebs can draft the proposal to the rest of citizens to decide the issue.
Furthermore, the politicians can not stop the process and must carry out the decision by the people.
Furthernore, the Swiss Supreme Court can not even consider a decision to see if it is “constitutional”; by definition the democratic decision by the people IS constitutional.
Furthermore, the number of signatures if registered voters required to launch a referendum is so low that the Swiss vote on referendums four times each year every year.
Furthermore, most vote from the comfort of their homes by mail.
Furthermore, they initiate referendums to decide local, cantonal (cantons are like states, provinces or autonomous regions) and also at the federal national level.
Furthermore, this final power to decide anything has made the Swiss voter directly reslobsible for what happens in his/her town, canton and the whole country.
Furthermore, the Swiss found out that when final decision making power rests on their shoulders they do not rely on the speeches (more or less contaminated by demagoguery, promises and ideological and partisan bias) of all politicians of all parties like the citizens of other countries have to. Because the Swiss voters knows they are responsible, that they can not blame politicians for the fate of their towns ( even villages), cantons and the whole country, when an issue goes to referendum interests them they take the time to inform themselves about the issue by discussing the issue with friends, familiy, colleagues at work and also by listening to experts.
As a result, the Swiss do not fall for demagogues; they do not fall for fascist, marxist, progressive or regressive demagogues.
Furrhermore, because Swiss politicians and top bureacrats at all jurisdictional levels, know that people can overrule them and can also force the politicians to put in place and policies, all Swiss politicians have learned they have to govern by being in tune with the values and concerns of voters.
Furthermore, the Swiss find that because most Swiss voters are responsible and intelligent mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, employees and employers, professionals, neighbours, citizens, drivers, etc. , it is obvious they will vote responsibly because they are directly responsible for the way any important or controversial issue is resolved.
Furrhermore, because the voters are the final authority and politicians know, respect and accept that, the Swiss people have more confidence in their politicians and governmen than anywhere else and are very satisfied with the Swiss political system.
Furthermore, the Swiss system manages lobbies better than any other.
In Switzerland, any lobby, any rich individual, any big company, any big union, any big professional association, know that it is not worth trying to control politicians or parties with big “donations” to political campaigns or by offering them very cushy corporate jobs when they retire, or millionaire book deal or hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches, etc., because politicians just lack the power they have in other systems.
Furthermore, by drastically limiting the power of the executive and legislative branches of ALL governments, the system also drastically reduces political polarisation and division.
Furthermore, the Swiss have found out that the system forces the major political parties to work cooperatively in the legislative and the executive. Those parties represent about 80% of the electorate. This means that anything politicians decide in this cooperative manner is likely to be acceptable to the vast majority of voters on the right, left and center.
There is a lot more to the Swiss system.
What it is obvious is that it is the only real democracy because it is close to the real ancient Greek democracy. It is also obvious that what we refer to as democracies (including the US constitutional representative republic) are not democracies but elected aristocracies heavily influenced, even cobtrolled, by lobbies.
It is also obvious that the citizens of those countries are second class citizens because they vote to elect representatives but they can not directly decide any law, policy, treaty, etc., the politicians decide everything or, in some cases, the judges decide, as we see now with Trump’s tariffs.
In such countries, not only they do not have anything close to the essence of democracy, which is government by the people, what they have is government by the elected politicians OVER the people.
Such democracies have, in the best of cases, freedom of expression and free media, which the politicians, parties and lobbies tolerate but not support and even oppose and suppress if the expression of the people is contrary to the will of the politicians and “too” popular.
We can see that in the US, Canada, UK, France, Australia, Germany, etc., where people are punished in varius ways for expressing opinions. For example by blacklisting them from jobs, closing their accounts in social media and video platforms, even jailing them for their opinions, not unlike totalitarian-authoritarian regimes.
It is obvious such countries do not even respect freedom of expression like democracies are supposed to.
Then we have the authoritarian, totalitarian, dictatorial regimes run by communists, fascists or religious authorities.
The likes of China, Vietnam, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc., in them the people do not even have the power to decide who rules, freedom if expression or, much less the power to cancel any law or policy, or to directly order those in power to put in place a new law or policy.
In such countries the people are third class citizens, perhaps not even citizens, they are more like serfs, forced to work and be quiet, not much above working animals, even if they are rich.
It is time for others to take to the streets, peacefully but relentlessly, like the Swiss did in the 1800s, and invert the pyramid of power, putting people on top.
