I heard that an election is coming up in the United States.
I didn’t know that there was an election. I am a registered pennsylvania voter. I wish someone would text me in a desperate tone 12-15 times per day about the upcoming election, which i forgot about.
Sebastian Castillo (@bartlebytaco 1 November 2024
I vote in Pennsylvania. (And have already voted – thank you!). Many Americans, and frankly the entire world, are consumed by it. The gynecologist last week asked me if I thought Trump or Harris was going to win. He asked me in his office, while I was fully clothed and seated.
Let me counter this with the Swiss election results.
How Swiss Elections Look
Like the United States, Switzerland has a federal and state government. We call these states Cantons. The federal and local level have different parliaments. Each of these councils are called Rats in German. You have a Grosser Rat (large) and a Smaller Rat. Referring to American politicians as “running for the Grosser Rat” is number one in accuracy.
Bret is my friend, who holds dual citizenship with the US and Switzerland. He has also run for office in Basel. You can view Bret’s talk on DisruptHR here. I asked Bret what the differences were between US politics and Swiss politics. He replied:
We have more than 5 major parties that are legitimate.
1. You MUST work with those with whom you disagree. If nothing happened, then there would be no progress.
2. Everyone must follow the decision made by that group. The phrase “that wasn’t my choice” is not acceptable.
These are big differences. There are a lot of parties in the US, but only two have a chance to win the presidency or gain control. The parties don’t work well together.
Direct Democracy
Another big difference is the power that the Swiss people have in the elections. Even though we often refer to the United States as a democracy, it is actually a republic. Switzerland, a republic as well, is the most democratic nation in the world. Initiatives and referendums are used to accomplish many different things.
Initiatives can be proposed by any citizen. You need to collect 100,000 valid signatures of Swiss voters in 18 months to pass a law. Then, it is put to the vote, where the majority will decide.
Referendums can be conducted more easily. They are also citizen-led processes where you want to undo something the Swiss Parliament has done. It only takes 55,000 signatures for this to be on the ballot.
A Swiss colleague told me that Swiss people do not talk endlessly about political issues because they can change anything they dislike. Americans, on the other hand can vote for their president every four-years, while we are limited to complaining. We can do many things, but there is no national referendum system. We don’t have a national referendum system, although some states do. We don’t have a way to respond to stupid laws except to wait for the next Congress to fix it.
The US elections are not the same as those here. The Swiss system is my preferred one.
