Joshua Diaz18 said:Well, thanks a lot, Switzerland.
But that misses the mark entirely, because even Germany provided a haven for Jews arriving from all over the world for quite a long time—throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th.
It wasn't like Jews were barred from practicing Judaism until the Night of Broken Glass, though by that point, the Nazi party had already secured their second term in power.
To put it bluntly, we’re talking about extreme political actions that fly in the face of everything Europe used to be, what it is now, and what it aspires to become.
Hypothetically speaking:
What would happen if the party led by Geert Wilders or the group led by Nick Griffin managed to secure a supermajority in their respective countries?
What would happen if such an ostensibly "non-violent" political movement actually had the entire weight of the state system and its full arsenal of repressive measures backing them up?
Sure, the Swiss people mostly voted against building that Minaret. A party without a majority organized a referendum, it passed, whatever the reason was. But where does it end?
What happens when a party like that finally grabs total control by winning a massive supermajority of the electorate?
I haven't the slightest idea what would unfold, but seeing as parties like the National Rally or that unhinged guy in Denmark are gaining more and more traction across much of Western Europe, one has to ask why that is. I certainly don't belong to the crowd that would back those types of parties, but at the end of the day, the majority calls the shots, doesn't it?
Well, the Swiss people have already voted against building a Minaret. A party without a majority organized a referendum, and it passed.
In Switzerland, they hold a referendum for every little thing. A colleague of mine, a Swiss person, once mentioned how they seem to have a vote on just about any triviality—that's their version of "direct democracy." He told me he’s honestly getting tired of showing up for them. Most of the people who actually bother to vote in these referendums are elderly (partly because the Swiss population is quite old overall), so the "conservative" side almost always wins out. A perfect example is the recent referendum regarding marijuana consumption. I have several younger Swiss friends who told me they were going to vote YES for decriminalization, yet they were certain it wouldn't pass because all the old folks would vote NO. Go ahead and guess the outcome of that referendum. 🙂