Do you feel safe and relaxed in your democracy?

[Lynx122]

This is something that I've thought about once in a while because it's just a big contrast that I've noticed.

In Switzerland it's quite easy for the people to stop something that they don't want to happen. You have to collect some signatures and you can start a national referendum with any action that the government is trying to take that you don't like. If it's something that people actually care about it's very easy to get the signatures. And you can also rely on people to vote against overreach so it's a very effective system.

In the U. S. it seems so exhausting. Like for example flock cameras the government just teamed up with a business and they just started doing this without asking the people and if you want to stop it you have to figure out who's supporting this and then start putting pressure on them and you have to hope other people are also engaged enough for it to make a difference but all the burden is on you to make something happen to fight. In Switzerland people can just vote no and it's done, no protests needed, no calling politicians office etc.

The second example, the epstein files even if you put on pressure for years and keep working so hard to force politicians into voting your way then they redacted the files and didn't release all of it etc. I would feel exhausted and not protected tbh. In Switzerland once people vote on something it just happens. There's no ah but this is kind of an inconvenience to me so let's not do it or something like that. The government serves the people and that's the end of the story. The only tricky situations are international treaties. The leadership can't make another country agree to something so it can get more complicated but it works very well in general.

Anyway that's just my perspective I'm grateful that I don't have to feel stressed about politics.

Have a nice day :)

How citizens rate the lived experience of democracy in their own country.

[Chazmatazz269]

I rarely feel unsafe in general.
It’s worth noting some facts that separate Switzerland from the US. Switzerland is TINY compared to the US. In fact, there are only nine states in the entire country that are smaller than Switzerland.
As you might expect, the US has significantly more people than Switzerland. Almost forty times as many people, not to put too fine a point on it.
So, you can probably already see how much more difficult it would be to reach a consensus between 350,000,000 compared to 9,000,000. Right?
Then there’s this sticky point that too few people are willing to address, homogeneity and how it impacts democracy, law and order. There’s an oft cited paper that suggests the Swiss referendum style of governance is more successful because it reflects the homogeneity of the country more so than the heterogeneity. But don’t take my word for it.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25166101

The US’s history of being this global “melting pot” has created great character, but it also leaves lots of room for disagreements about what is best for us as a people and a nation.
It would be lovely if things were as simple here as they are there. But they’re not and because of our size and population, even if we could shift back toward homogeneity a bit, i’m fairly certain that we simply couldn’t conduct official affairs the same way Switzerland does. I’m a bigger fan than most. I often cite Switzerland’s gun ownership rates because, per capita, they’re pretty close to the US, but you have significantly less violent crime. Which flies in the face of the narrative that more guns equals more crime. Lefties like to say that crap, you see.
Go on and enjoy your country enough for the both of us! We’ll just be over here bickering about every little thing.

[Levin]

If you're safe and relaxed here, you're asleep or totally removed from the day to day realities of many people.

Things have gotten really bad here due to 30 years of terrible socialist policies.

Rents are like £1200 per month while a salary is like £2000.

Immigration is insane with so many unintegrated communities. A sad and unnecessary problem stored up for the future.

No one seems to give a shit, because to do so would be 'far right'.

I thought this article was a nice synthesis of what is not going so well across the continent. https://dailysceptic.org/2026/10/26/the-fall-of-europe/

But I guess you don't give a shit because you're in Switzerland and doing alright for yourself?

Don't get me wrong, we have to try and be positive and make the best of what we have. But compared to the 1990s things have gone really badly wrong. And no one seems to have noticed...

[goaded]

Why do you feel you have to exaggerate things to make them look bad? If things were really as bad as you want people to believe, you wouldn't have to fudge the numbers, they'd speak for themselves.

"Rents are like £1200 per month while a salary is like £2000"
That's 40-hour weeks at £12.71 minimum wage. And you can rent a flat for under £1000 a month, even in London. There are nearly 500 available today. rentaros.co.uk/.../london

Oh, and a note to the septics: 8% of the gross income goes towards National Insurance, that's your basic health care and social security paid in full. About another 10% goes in income tax at that level of pay (0% on the first £12,570, 20% on anything up to £50,270 a year).

[Levin]

@goaded Haven't you got some jizya / cuck tax to pay?

[FreyaRed]

We had first constitution and democratic elected monarchy as one of first states in the world. The result was never ending war and occupation for 123 years.
Democracy only works if the environment allows it. Sometimes is iron fist rule of a dictator needed to bring law and order into a society. Main problem is to get rid of dictatorship if it's not needed anymore.

[OneViewpoint]

The US is a divided nation. We have been from the start. The name United States of America is...

• A naive wish
• Misleading
• A case of national denial
• A Cruel Joke
• A lie
• Fucking hilarious irony
• All Of The Above

And what the wealthy and powerful found out early on is that racial, ethnic, religious, and economic inequality can be exploited to keep the various factions fighting each other and totally blind to the Oligarchs who are holding them in economic slavery. We are one fucked up country. And every group of immigrants from Europe, Asia, Africa, and now Latin America has been used as a target to keep the population focused on anything but the wealthy greedy parasites hoarding all the wealth. We are the poster child for the dangers of uncontrolled Capitalism.

[NathanDavis]

my "democracy" has 500 million people...

nobody will ever get along... which is perfect ground for both, corruption and impunity in government

[DryGermanGuy]

The country of North America? 🤔🙃

[NathanDavis]

@DryGermanGuy dual nationality, yes...

over a 1000 elected politicians... and can't get a decent one... not one, lol

[Shiprex]

On the whole yes though the current place of residence has a tendency for people to feel the need to want lethal right to kill each other and all too often it's children who are the victims.

[DryGermanGuy]

Yes, of course. Still no collapse in sight, despite all the foreign doom-prophets.

[dfdfdffffdfdf]

not at all , ur map is accurate , my county is red

[Snakeyes7]

The US was never supposed to be a democracy, it is supposed to be a republic. Democracy is nothing more than mob rule. With a republic all land is accounted for instead of just the majority of people who live in the city.

[exitseven]

No, we are virtually one election away with loosing it all.

[Pterodon]

In my ultra red constitutional carry, castle doctrine and stand your ground state yes I do.

[Lynx122]

I guess you don't know what relaxed means.

[Pterodon]

Yes I do. I’m now on equal terms with criminals

[Dargil]

In America, the shit will soon hit the fan.

[capriVib]

Absolutely not.

[sage2021]

No I don't!

[lilBigPotato]

Yep.

[MrChinaski]

I sure do!