Hope Yodels
By Mitch Berg
While America seems – according to some observers, for this election cycle – to be flirting with “moderate, center” (i.e. “liberal with the patchouli temporarily showered off”) politics, it’s fun to see that much of Europe is drifting, by their standards, to the right. Merkel, Sarkozy…
…and the Swiss. Traditionally Europe’s most “conservative” nation (where “conservative” means “resistant to change”, due to a plebiscitory system of democracy that refers most vital issues to popular vote), they’ve been flirting with the left for a bit here – a flirtation that seems to have slowed with the last election:
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) is set to consolidate its position as the alpine nation’s most popular grouping in a parliamentary election on Sunday, outstripping its rivals after a provocative campaign…According to the last opinion poll conducted before the election, the People’s Party are expected to win 27.3 percent of the vote, a slight increase over 2003 when they raced to the top of the polls amid accusations of xenophobia.
The SVP has again run a controversial campaign calling for the extradition of foreigners who commit serious crimes. It has been criticised by opponents and has ruffled the usually smooth waters of Switzerland’s consensus-based politics.
This last paragraph betrays a certain ignorance of Swiss politics. Switzerland is an intensely federal country; it also joins some very disparate groups – the fairly wealthy Germans in the north, the relatively poor French and Italians in the south and west – in a functioning democracy, largely by making the process of initiative and referendum extremely easy, and by constitutionally relegating an amazing amount of legislative power to the “Cantons” (states). As a result, a general consensus forms. Which is not to say that politics don’t occasionally get bumptious (by the nation’s stolid standards).
Did someone say trouble?
Opposition to the SVP’s campaign, which used posters calling for the “black sheep” of Swiss society to be booted out, spilled over into a rare outburst of violence on the streets of Berne earlier this month when police and left-wing activists clashed.
Wow. Left-wingers getting violent when they don’t get their way? Shocking, I know.
At any rate – Europe’s rejection of the far left this past few years has been heartening. Or at least conservatives should take heart -because it was about immigration:
A nationalist party rode an anti-immigrant wave Sunday to the best showing of any party in parliamentary elections since World War I, while the Greens made gains by appealing to environmental concerns, according to projections.
In one of the most bitter political campaigns in memory in this usually tolerant Alpine nation, the Swiss People’s Party called for a law to throw out entire immigrant families if a child violates national laws.
Now, while I’m reaching for a parallel here – that American conservatives can take heart that immigration is a hot enough issue to gain them traction – let’s correct this news report; while the Swiss have a strong sense of liberty (they have a relatively laissez-faire system of government by Euro standards, and also the most liberal gun laws on the continent), they also have a very strong sense of civil order and civic cohesion. They are “tolerant” in the same way a small town on the Great Plains is tolerant – to the point where you breach those senses. Then, things change fast.
But I digress.
