rt. We hardly want to admit it, but we are living very well. No hunger plagues us, no war robs us of friends and relatives, no one destroys our homes and our land. We can have an unprecedented say at all political levels: in the Comune, in the canton and in the Confederation. We cannot only elect political representatives, but also have a direct say in all matters. This is unique in Europe and worldwide.
We are living well
Our prosperity is great: Most of us can go on holiday once a year, and we can “afford” something every now and then. An extensive social and health care system supports us in emergencies.
None of this has fallen into our laps, even if it seems to many. Especially for young people who have never got to know anything else, our life, as it is today, seems to be “normal” – just natural.
Hard-won rights and prosperity
But our rights and prosperity have been hard-won by our ancestors – even bloody in certain circumstances. A look across the borders of our country or into the history books shows how different it can be: A recent report from Donetsk, Baghdad or Sanaa or a historical eyewitness account of the famine of 1816 or the invasion of the French army in 1798 give an idea that peace, freedom, justice and prosperity were not and will not be granted freely.
It was no coincidence that our country survived the First and Second World Wars relatively unscathed. Brave people have been able to keep the country out of the wars in extremely difficult negotiations, others have tried to secure our food supply, and yet others have built up the necessary military protection. Previously, generations of diplomats and politicians had sought the neutral position of the country.
Claiming a share in decisions
The expansion of our diverse democratic rights in the 19th century was also a decade of struggle with a complacent authority that was reluctant to listen to the voices of their “subjects”. Often, the sight of pitchforks and threshing beaters had to give the necessary emphasis to the desire to have a share in decisions. Laws that govern the lives of all must also be determined by all.
Achievements “washed away”?
But how easily are these achievements washed away? How many regulations resulting from EU provisions or UN conventions – which none of us would have allowed to go through in a vote – are now beginning to regulate our lives?
Do not the international economic organisation OECD and the various UN conventions now determine the content and structure of our schools? And have not our schools been on an increasingly steep descent since PISA? SMEs have been complaining about unfit school leavers for some time. Developments in Sweden are warning us.
Regulations from the EU, NATO
and UN are taken over undoubtedly
Our electricity supply is to be adapted to EU requirements and “liberalised”. It is no longer intended to serve the common good, but to generate dividends, although this has already been rejected several times. Who would take responsibility for a “black out” that has become more and more likely?
In recent months, one could not avoid to get the impression that some Federal Councillors would prefer to hand over our rights to Brussels if one only would let them?
Do you not get the impression that the link between our army and NATO via the NATO organisation PfP has become somewhat too tight and that the status of a neutral state must once again become clearer?
Many are now shaking their heads over our media landscape: an unhealthy press concentration with increasing political correctness. Any deviation is stigmatised. Even “controversial” debates seem selected, set up and predetermined. These are bad conditions for forming citizens’ opinions, however, this is indispensable for any democracy.
Arising tasks
The expansion and safeguarding of democratic rights at all levels as well as an intact public service and a credible national defence are only some of the tasks we face today. Schools must also be freed from their OECD-led bureaucratic control apparatus.
Contracts can be cancelled
And: If the “voluntary” adoption of EU, NATO or UN directives in our legislation via the bureaucratic route by countless regulations is not stopped in our country, a suspension could be a first step to get some air. A second could be renegotiation.
The fact that we can free ourselves again from a corset that is too tightly lashed has been demonstrated in “big” politics for some time. •
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