On a regular Swiss voting-sunday, taking place every few months, you can experience the magic of democracy in its full perspective. Even in the smallest towns in the backcountry you can see people practicing their citizen-rights, waiting in line at the voting polls. There are thousands of people working those days to maintain a voting infrastructure, which works seemingly effortless. It has been built up in the last centuries and feels like such a natural part of society – it’s hard to imagine otherwise. And although critics moan that the numbers for participation could be higher, I am still amazed by how many people actually participate (last time, over 2 Million people made the polls, out of 5 Mio.). One could say: Democracy works.
Or does it not?
You see, Swiss democracy is especially vulnerable to bullshit. The political system – direct democracy – obliges them to vote every few months on more or less complex subjects on local, regional and country-wide levels. (This weekend I voted on financial support for the cities theater (local), forbidding citizenship for welfare recipients (regional) and 1:12-initiative, amongst others) This is why people constantly need to have opinions on sometimes complex matters.
There has been a whole industry evolving around shaping opinions: spin-doctors, political strategists, campaigners, lobbyists, you name it. One could say, Switzerland is in constant election-mode. And the fight for attention and opinions is getting harder.