Why did Switzerland vote against capping it's population?

[Lynx122]

The right wing party generally only has about 30% support which is similar everywhere but in certain moments it can spike up, and the swiss right wing tries to select certain moments very carefully to try and use them to pass laws to change the trajectory of Switzerland. Like this capping the population at 10 million which wouldn't really have any immediate effects because we're still quite far away from that but it would directly conflict with our agreements with the EU free movement of people.

It would have basically been Brexit for Switzerland just very delayed and not as all-encompassing. It would still have been a big blow to any cooperation with Europe. It would have had so many bad effects I don't really even want to talk about it. But here's a quote from a politician that kind of sums up my view.

"Today the population showed that it prefers reason over fearmongering. Switzerland traditionally solves its challenges with objectivity, innovation, and solidarity—not through isolation and simple slogans."

I think this vote showed we have a functioning democracy that adresses peoples concerns that's why the vote didn't pass. If people felt like the system wasn't working for them this kind of vote would've had a far better chance of passing. But it also shows there are still issues to be adressed like housing and infrastructure where people are feeling a strain. That's why the vote was closer than it probably should have been. But hopefully this will show politicians where they need to work harder to prevent another similar vote in the future. There have been similar votes in the past that were also defeated.

One of the posters that was used to show the idyllic swiss village towered over by huge new buildings

[Levin]

Well, I must plead ignorance on this one. There's a lot of information about there and I don't have time to look into the Swiss context. If what is said below, that it already has very strict immigration laws is correct, then it is clearly context dependent. In the UK, our three biggest cities are minority white British. White British is now less than 60% of school age. 10 years ago it was 70%. Now in nurseries white British is 47%.

That is a big demographic shift in the space of a generation. The seeds may have already been irrevocably sown for white British people to be the minority.

There are a lot of social problems, a lot of issues and wider questions. We are not flourishing as a country. There are parallel societies, where entire communities just pretty much do their own thing. There are the grooming gangs. We had another 350000 net migration of non-EU in the last year. All the while families are struggling. Young people can't afford to buy a house. An entire generation has been written off from adulting. Wages have been stagnant and depressed. The economy has been pretty much dead since the financial crash of 2008.

Switzerland is probably not suffering through immigration. The UK on the other hand...

[OlderAndWiser]

Capping the population by government fiat recalls memories of China's one-child policy. That was an absolute disaster for China. Population control through the encouragement of voluntary measures or tax incentives would be a far better strategy.

[MrChinaski]

Errr... disaster for China?

Real GDP per person 1980 $1500, 2015 $15,000.

There are ethical issues, of course, but it was part of a suite of economic policies that lifted more people out of poverty over 3-4 decades than has ever occurred before in world history (and probably more than will ever occur again).

[OlderAndWiser]

@MrChinaski I don't know what you understand about China, but I am married to a woman who was born and raised in China. She was born before the one child policy was implemented, so she witnessed the consequences firsthand. I will rely on her opinions on that subject.

[MrChinaski]

@OlderAndWiser I'm sure that your wife understands the social implications of the policy far better than I do. I merely offer the observation that lifting 800 million people out of extreme poverty is a valuable outcome.

[OlderAndWiser]

@MrChinaski Yes, but that was not the only consequence.

[FreyaRed]

The goal was to show that more than 45% are willing to limit their population. This will give lot of weight in further compromises in regard of immigration control.
Honestly, even European lefties agree that feeding and giving shelter to two billions willing immigrates who are too retarded to do anything more than to eat and to sh.., is beyond Europa's capacity.

[Lynx122]

2 billion? We have 9 million people and some of the strictest immigration laws in Europe already. Before this was proposed. What other countries do is their problem.

[FreyaRed]

Wait until Germany, Austria or Italy puts brownies at your border. Immigrants are bioweapon and failed states will use them to destabilize their neighbors who are better off.

[DryGermanGuy]

Actually, we are roughly scheduled to send ~2 million foreigners back to their home countries (mostly Syrians and Ukrainians).

[DryGermanGuy]

It’s one of those „solutions“ in search of a problem. Switzerland is usually smarter than that. 🤷‍♂️

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

Because the opposite sounds totally weird?

I would question the opposite scenario actually, why wanting to cap population at all lol?

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

Also, far-right policies are generally bad for international business, and I assume Switzerland counts on it to perform economically?

[Lynx122]

Well there was substantial money spent on a campaign. There's a billionaire who has been funding the right wing party in Switzerland for decades. Never heard that before. And old people, people in rural areas etc are always susceptible to this kind of campaign.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

Yeah I really don't get what priorities of this billionaire are because he surely can't make big bucks without a strong international trade lol

[Just_Ken]

Suicidal empathy sweeps Europe

[strateguy632]

you answered your question. only 30% but most are naive and refused to learn from the error of european neighbors.

[abc3643]

It's not really enforceable anyway. Any mature, functional adult realizes this.

[Dargil]

It needs taxpayers to support its welfare system. Sweden fertility rate for 2022 was 1.53 Now its 1.84. Better than ours.

[DryGermanGuy]

Too bad it's not about Sweden, Sherlock.

[Dargil]

@DryGermanGuy You can go Holme now.

[Dargil]

Switz is 1.44 more reason.

[MrChinaski]

data.worldbank.org/.../SP.DYN.TFRT.IN?locations=SE

[Xawyx-2]

Well, I'm not from Switzerland, so I really don't know.

[Lynx122]

I just formulated the question like that because they cancelled mytakes :D

[Xawyx-2]

Oh, I see, great idea :-D

[exitseven]

or maybe the next time the vote to cap the population will pass.

[In_Trance]

Probably because they don't want to cap their population

[Anonymous]

Because it's already been infiltrated and lost

[Lynx122]

lol how sad your life must be

[Opinion Owner]

Will be over soon enough, the genocide is foming