Briefly, Switzerland has 28 Kantons, like states in the USA except that each Kanton has more autonomy. The country is a federation of these 28 Kantons. A dramatic example of the independence of each Kanton, something many of you might be surprised to learn, is that it was as late as 1991 that the Kanton of Appenzell finally gave women the right to vote. I was living in the neighboring Kanton at the time and went to the town square during the momentous day that the men of Appenzell Ausserhoden met in the town square and raised their swords in majority agreement to give the women the right to vote. That was the last hold out Kanton for womens right to vote in Switzerland.
Switzerland is often referred to as a type of direct democracy because petitions generated by the general public on specific issues can be raised and then voted on as a Folk Referendum. While I was living in Switzerland one of the folk initiatives that the majority of Swiss citizens voted on and approved was raising the taxes by 30 cents per gallon on diesel and gasoline fuel in order to finance the expansion of the mass public transportation. This was approved by over 80% of swiss citizens.
Folks initiatives in Switzerland can be either at the federal level or at the level of the Kanton.
Just last week a Volksinitiative won approval by the majority of Swizz citizens in the Kanton of Geneva, here is the link:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/03/worl ... index.html
Voters in Geneva, Switzerland, have agreed to introduce a minimum wage in the canton that is the equivalent of $25 an hour -- believed to be the highest in the world.
According to government data, 58% of voters in the canton were in favor of the initiative set the minimum wage at 23 Swiss francs an hour, which was backed by a coalition of labor unions and aimed at "fighting poverty, favoring social integration, and contributing to the respect of human dignity."
While Switzerland has no national minimum wage law, Geneva is the fourth of 26 cantons to vote on the matter in recent years after Neuchâtel, Jura and Ticino.
Specific to the USA both more autonomous states rights as well as referendums on specific issues brought forth as folks initiatives would be a very positive way to begin the process of actually moving the political divide from what is today empty symbolism and moving it in the direction of real pragmatic legislation tailor made for each state or region.
The red state / blue state divide can direct all their philosophical differences towards legislating their desires at the state level instead of today fighting against each other which just resembles a spinning flywheel that is not in gear doing any useful work.
Public health care for California? Let the state decide
Abortions on demand? Let Alabama outlaw it
Initiate a VAT tax to finance social program? Let a folks initiative vote on it at the federal level. If it fails as an alternative states can increase sales tax for the same reason.
The Folks initiatives also provide a way for citizens to circumvent the inordinate power of corporate lobbyists to derail meaningful reform by their ability for example to lobby legislators on keeping drug prices artificially elevated for US consumers.
If we take the recently past referendum in Geneva on implementing a minimal livable wage, imagine a US based Folk initiative requiring a minimum wage of $18 an hour to be petitioned, brought forth and voted on directly by US citizens. There certainly are a hell of a lot more low wage earners in the US then there are members of the monied class that keep both parties strictly within the confines of legislation that benefits their privilege.
The US voter is currently corralled into a polarized conflict that is based on empty symbolism instead of concrete issues. A system that allowed states more autonomy and also gave the citizens a direct voice in democracy on referendums would empower the public, communities and states. Counter intuitively, this could be the very thing to actually bring about a renewed sense of unity and empowerment of citizens.
It is the very lack of voice and power among the public that stokes the flames of the artificial symbol based tribalism that dominates the public discourse today....... a discourse that the monied class want to keep going for as long as US citizens continue to agree to eat the shit that is being fed them.
Allow citizens a greater voice in a form of direct democracy as we can see in Switzerland?