Some countries love referendums. The Swiss, for instance, can hardly decide which side of bed to get out of in the mornings, let alone what color stripe is permissible on the seams of their ski pants, without putting such urgent questions to the popular vote. There was a Swiss referendum this past February, comprising four separate propositions, and another on June 5th, which offered five more initiatives, one of them asking the good folk of Switzerland whether they approved of a basic income for every citizen. (Most of them said no.) A third referendum will swing by in September. This, some will argue, is democracy in action, although democracy may be so exhausted by all the action that it will feel like going back to bed with a box of milk chocolates, rich in Alpine goodness.
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Published on June 23, 2016 15:33