I think you may be under the impression that Switzerland, with its ultra-democratic referenda, has all the answers, King Hazza.

>>...voters themselves lack many democratic rights and powers the average Swiss citizen enjoys, we are therefore less democratic.<<

The problem with referenda such as the Swiss employ is that they encourage introversion. Which - while it might be seen as a "good thing" for the individual wielding their democratic rights - tends after a time to isolate the country from the real world.

Taking the last few as examples:

- February 2011: voted down restrictions on firearms

Associated Press described the Swiss as a nation where “the right to bear arms is firmly linked to the national myth of William Tell … and to Swiss pluck against the Nazis during World War II,”

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/world-mainmenu-26/europe-mainmenu-35/6331-swiss-voters-turn-back-gun-control-referendum

The latter also being a myth, of course. Unless by "pluck against the Nazis" they meant the determination to profit financially from the hardship of almost every other European during the war.

- November 2010: automatic deportation of foreign criminals

20% of the Swiss population are foreigners, so this was a significant step.

"The proposal, put forward by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), is seen as the latest sign of increasing hostility towards immigrants in the Alpine nation."

http://www.euractiv.com/en/global-europe/eu-cautious-over-swiss-vote-expel-foreign-criminals-news-500108

What it achieves is to reinforce the isolationism with which the country has always been associated. Which is fair enough, as long as you don't need the rest of the world's respect. How much is that worth in Swiss Francs anyway?

December 2009: ban minarets

Eight million Swiss. Five percent of whom are Muslims. There are four minarets in the entire country. Was this about architecture, do you think?

The tendency recently has also been to prevent the government from cost-reduction (closing underutilized post offices), and to award themselves taxpayer handouts ((paid maternity leave).

Y'know, it would be hard to find a population so completely inwardly-focussed as the Swiss.

Especially when there's a buck to be made.

From about now on government will become increasingly local.
It will probably take, if we are lucky, 50 years.
The Transition Town Movement is demonstrating the path we will follow.
However if the systems people are right then complex structures such
as the world economy cannot fail gently but only by systemic failure.
Lets hope they are not right.

Globalisation is ending but will probably take 10 years to die.
In the end National governments will fade to be a shadow of their
present image and government will be very local.

All this may be varied by breakthroughs such as Thorium Reactors if
they can be made to work, but it is by no means a certainty.
However the trend is unstoppable.
Read this for a glimpse of the future;

http://www.postcarbon.org/article/254838-earth-s-limits-why-growth-won-t-return

Ahhh here it is, the article I was trying to find;

Complex systems and what happened in Egypt. Says it all !
Food prices and why they face starvation democracy or not.

http://www.postcarbon.org/blog-post/250866-egypt-s-warning-are-you-listening

No problem with any of these with me Pericles,
If the public decides they want to risk shooting themselves with firearms, that's their call- if things go badly, they can still decide whether its worthwhile.
And to be quite honest I happen to agree with the deportation policy, and consider local residents deciding what architectural forms they will tolerate to be a basic human right as a resident.

It boils down to which rights and values society weighs as more important, and which excesses they would rather have.

A nation with no allies whatsoever feels that drafting all men into military service with no chance of warzone deployment, and owning extra rifles to fend off an attacking force at risk of people gunning each other down: is better than to bow and scrape to a corrupt but powerful nation and send soldiers to fight in illegal wars and put themselves high on the hitlist of avenging terrorists- possibly pandering to the point that they happily let that nation prey on citizens like Assange in order to buy their mercy.

For the deportation law, they trade the rights of family members of the convicted offender to retain residence, against either separating them, or otherwise against their own domestic security and prosperity of a potential long-term crime problem being instantly neutralized.

The right of citizens to veto construction overrides the right of free enterprise to do or build whatever you like at the detriment to everyone else.

And singling out minarets on a national level means that the public would sooner alienate more devout Muslims (but possibly not-so-devout) and reap the potential benefits of doing so, against holding themselves to a specific sense of liberal morality and accepting that this must endure making their country an attractive target for fundamentalist immigrants, and risking hard lobbying pressure against rights they don't agree with, and internal hostility.

Hazza,

As I understand it, some cantons in Switzerland have only just recognised the right of women to vote ? i.e. allowed men to completely monopolise what gets put up to plebiscites and referenda ? Maybe democracy for some is worse than no democracy at all ?

Joe

That doesn't surprise me at all, King Hazza.

>>No problem with any of these with me Pericles<<

I was simply trying to illustrate what a sad society can be constructed from a licence to be supremely selfish, via unrestricted access to a ballot box on any and all topics.

>>It boils down to which rights and values society weighs as more important, and which excesses they would rather have<<

Not sure what you mean by "excesses" in this context. The only excess I can detect is one of "me, me, me". If that is your idea of how society should operate "democratically", then we most certainly would get the government we deserve.

We'd be out of the traps like a greyhound at the Sandown Cup, banning burkas, vetoing mosques, repealing GST, electing Darryl Somers as president of our brand-new republic, sending boat-people "back where they came from", cancelling all foreign aid, bringing in a one-child-only policy - it'll be sheer paradise, you'll see.

I am usually an outspoken critic of snout-in-the-trough gravy-train politicians and jobs-for-life, jobs-for-the-boys public servants. But rather than let your ideas of fairness and freedom run the country, King Hazza, I'd be prepared to support them for a little bit longer.