What is Switzerland? A state that you pay taxes to? Or a myth to be worshiped? Neither the one nor the other.
The Greens are calling for foreigners to vote at the national level. That is not surprising. For those who feel they have a sacred duty to save the world, the nation is an extremely profane thing.
Arguments can be made for the right to vote of all residents, not least the right to vote for foreigners in the cantons of Appenzell-Ausserrhoden, Basel-Stadt, Graubünden and Neuchâtel. All these proud Swiss estates still exist, despite foreigners who have a say in their fate.
The green demand should also be given a reason that should be particularly clear to the native, the quaint Swiss: No taxation without political participation. Money shines – and has always made sense to the Swiss, especially the urban, busy and globalized one from Zurich to Zug to Geneva.
So why not a bold yes to the right to vote for foreigners at national level? Switzerland would not only keep up with the zeitgeist, it would even run ahead. It would be avant-garde again, as in 1848 with the first democratic federal state in the Europe of princes and monarchs.
The spirit of the times, in a nutshell: The nation is out, the world is in. Let the children of the world come to us so that they can enjoy the fruits that do not yet thrive in their countries of origin, for example the fruits of Democracy, which is one of the roots of the western economic miracle.
Where would this miracle be more wonderful than in Switzerland?
Seen in this way, it would be tantamount to pathetic egoism, conservative small-mindedness, unworldly obduracy if this top global nation were not offered to everyone for participation once they had spent five years in the 173-year-old Alpine country and even paid taxes.
Is there a but still allowed? Let it be daring:
But are non-existential questions about Switzerland decided by referendums at national level?
But doesn’t this make the constitution binding for the future?
But don’t referendums often presuppose historical wisdom?
But isn’t the right to vote a right of the one who owns the matter?
But isn’t the nation formed over generations the political property of its citizens?
But isn’t the right to vote the highest right of the citizen – its essence?
But wouldn’t the right to vote without citizenship then amount to a devaluation of this very essence of citizenship?
Living in Switzerland for five years – and already determining the future of the Swiss Confederation? If globalization is to be equated with indifference to what has been valid for generations – then participation is of course a cheap good.
But anyone who intends to shape globalization on a human scale cannot avoid the area that has grown nationally: where the citizens have created their political home in controversy and satisfaction, where citizens have their future in conflicts and compromises over generations Have signed the state – you need an obligatory cultural affiliation in order to be able to have a say:
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