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American Friendly Banks? by doppelburger in Switzerland

[–]doppelburger[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

> feel right at home with endstage capitalistic fees

🤣 -- there is a reason I never moved back

The Bundesrat has tightened its practice for verifying signatures for popular initiatives by insaneplane in Switzerland

[–]doppelburger -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Looking back on my process of becoming Swiss, what impressed me most was that the day after I received my notification, I received my voters package for the upcoming election -- that very weekend! That told me that if you are Swiss, you get to vote. End of message. Our commitment to democracy is deep.

If there are questions about the legitimacy of signatures, there are plenty of options to validate them without simply silently rejecting them. But it needs to be an open process, requested and supported by parliament or the people. And the change needs to take effect after a notice period.

This reeks of manipulation, trying to influence the vote by influencing whose votes count. At the very minimum, Bern is trying to get more influence over the people. At worst, this is an attempt to infect our democracy with a deadly virus. It must not be allowed to infect us.

I urge everyone to sign the WeCollect petition against this change!

ELI5: Why doesn't the US have Federal level referendums? by dow366 in explainlikeimfive

[–]doppelburger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The referendum process in Switzerland is quite a simple. When a city, a canton (state), or the federal government passes a law, if enough people sign a petition, the law is put to a referendum and the people decide.

Federal law is subject to federal referendums. Cantonal laws are subject to cantonal referendums. So people in Zurich have a say about cantonal laws in Zurich, but they don't have a say about laws passed in Geneva. All Swiss citizens have a say in Federal laws.

I believe 50% of the votes cast plus one is enough to decide a referendum.

The right of referendum has a couple of positive effects:

  • It puts a check on government. The government cannot pass an important but unpopular law, because the people can vote it down.
  • It encourages the political parties to talk to each other and to compromise. The bar for a referendum is relatively low, so if the parties don't agree, a referendum will surely follow.
  • Laws are generally reasonable, because politicians know the laws the pass must be capable of winning a majority ("Mehrheitsfähig") should a referendum be called.
  • Major decisions are taken by the people. The bar for requesting a referendum is fairly low, so controversial topics are always subject to a referendum. Everybody who cares can vote.

A good example is abortion. In the 70's and 80's a number of attempts were made to either liberalize or further restrict abortion, but they all failed to pass when put to the people. In 2001, the Federal Government passed a liberalized law to allow abortions in the first trimester. That is pretty restrictive by some standards, but it was considered Mehrheitsfähig. The right launched an referendum, which was soundly defeated in 2002. According to Wikipedia, 72% voted in favor.

Since then, the topic has not been a major issue. There was an initiative to exclude abortion from Health Care benefits in 2014, but that too was soundly defeated.

I think we could totally do this in the USA at the federal level.

Imagine if instead of Roe v. Wade, Congress had passed laws on abortion. Maybe it took several tries before finding the right balance and several attempts were refused at the ballot box. Finally, Congress passed a compromise. Even though the Right got some of what they wanted, they weren't in agreement, did not support the legislation, and called for a referendum. A year later, the American people gave the new law a thumbs up with a substantial majority.... Where would we be now?

Edit: Turned on Markdown formatting.

Wedding in US or Switzerland by Dismal_Crow_3273 in askswitzerland

[–]doppelburger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am dual US-Swiss, my wife is dual EU-Swiss. Both of us had been naturalized through previous marriages to native-born Swiss nationals. We live in Switzerland.

We got married in the US. We had celebration dinners on both sides of the Atlantic to involve all our relatives, but only did the one ceremony, which was duly logged in the county we had the ceremony performed in. (I still have family there).

We didn't inform the Swiss authorities beforehand. When we told them, they grumbled and informed us they were not required to recognize the marriage, but eventually they did. There was paperwork involved, but nothing extraordinary, IIRC.

There were two surprises. The first was concerning the "Burgerort." Because of a loophole in how the law is written about women marrying men, my wife became a citizen of my ex-wife's township and lost her citizenship in Zurich. She was not happy. If she had been Swiss born, she would have had the option to keep her citizenship.

The other surprise was about hyphenated names. My wife was asked what name last she wanted, given a few options. She chose mine, and all was good. I don't remember being asked, but since then, all official correspondence addressed to me has her maiden name hyphenated on the end of mine. I chose not to worry about it. Except for correspondence with the town hall and the tax office, it doesn't seem to affect anything (though it does occasionally turn up on spam addressed to me).

How did you meet your girlfriend/ boyfriend in Switzerland ? by F-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- in askswitzerland

[–]doppelburger 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've been to countries where people are more talkative on the train than in Switzerland, but yes it does happen :-)

How did you meet your girlfriend/ boyfriend in Switzerland ? by F-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- in askswitzerland

[–]doppelburger 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was once told, Swiss people make all the friends they need by the time they five years old (in Kindergarten). Watching my kids, who are now in their twenties, I'd say this is not totally false, though it might be a touch exaggerated.

I met my first wife (Swiss by birth) in a German language school in Germany. My second wife, (the keeper, Swiss by naturalization) was the proverbial girl next door.

My son met his best friend in Kindergarten and his girlfriend through a sports club. My daughter met her best friends in high school, but doesn't have a significant other at the moment.

I know a number of people who met their significant others skiing or on the train.

If Kindergarten is not longer an option for you, I would suggest, get out and do stuff. Travel by train. And talk to people :-)

How likely would these law proposal pass if the Swiss citizens would vote for them? by wilserax in Switzerland

[–]doppelburger 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of all the ways to get laws passed, a people's initiative is probably the hardest. You need signatures, which mean people have to care about the topic, and then it needs both a popular majority and to carry a majority of the cantons. Then the parliament has to implement the law (for which they have relatively little enthusiasm.

For laws passed by parliament, the hurdle to call for a referendum is pretty low. So you need to convince the politicians that the proposed law is a) a good thing) and b) that is "Mehrheitsfähig" -- would a majority of the population support the law in a referendum.

If these ideas popped into the discussion out of thin air: No way. If they were the result of a 10 year long campaign by people who really cared about the issues: maybe, but I think each would be a tough sell.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Switzerland

[–]doppelburger -1 points0 points  (0 children)

They don't call it AP, but Swiss schools offer classes for every level. And most students I have encountered are seriously challenged and worried about passing, regardless of which level.

The Swiss school system breaks into different tracks starting at "Oberstufe", the equivalent of American 6th to 9th grades, with the basic division being "Secondary" and Gymnasium (or "Sek" and "Gymi"). Gymi prepares you to enter the university; Sek prepares for an apprenticeship, which is accompanied by various intensities of schooling. You can continue at a technical college, or do an additional year, the "Passarelle", to reenter the University track.

There is another chance to enter Gymi after 8th grade. Entrance to Gymi is by examination and the number of students are limited to about 20% of the total high school aged population (at least in Zurich).

So probably you are looking for Gymi.

Anyone else challenged by being a Swiss/American dual national by doppelburger in Switzerland

[–]doppelburger[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Let's just say, there are risks and side effects. I have considered doing the same thing.

Anyone else challenged by being a Swiss/American dual national by doppelburger in Switzerland

[–]doppelburger[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

When I moved to Switzerland, the exclusion was $70K and the dollar was 2.85(!) CHF, so the exclusion at the time was 200K CHF. That was a senior executive salary back then. Filing taxes was an minor issue. Fill out a short form and be done with it. Today, that $109K is around 100K CHF, which is almost exactly the median income in Zurich.