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by Toaster: Direct Democracy is only one vision of effective democracy. Elections don't work unless the voters are forced in a rather undemocratic manner to vote. ... In a similar manner there should be a serious punishment for failure to vote. ....

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Originally written by I Would Pay Your Wergild:

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The argument that Switzerland is a less corrupt tax haven than other tax havens is not a good one. As well as dictators, we also have to consider corporate money put in tax havens solely for the purpose of tax avoidance. The money corporations have for just this reason in tax havens would be enough to give the entire world primary education and health care twice over.

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Originally written by I Would Pay Your Wergild:

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In the meantime, I'll point out that Switzerland isn't entirely wonderful. There's its famously arcane banking laws whereby revealing practically anything about an account is tantamount to treason and the fact that it has been complicit in helping very many dictators and corrupt rulers over the years to build up vast fortunes stolen from their peoples.
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by BtI: ...
Direct democracy isn't plausible on a nationwide level. You have to have elected representatives or you can't get anything done. Even an anarchist would accept that one can't have an community of 60 million people in which everybody makes the decision on everything.

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Originally written by Fear Uncertainty and Custer:

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Listen to the quiet, subdued voice of logic here: average Swiss person has little interest one way or another in the ecology, and all he or she knows about it that day is that some jerk demonstrating against ecological damage by automobiles made them late to an appointment and they had to reschedule... suppose the election is the next day. Who is going to win that, you or the opponent?
You don't know the Swiss. They have high interest in ecological matters and they care about traffic. Bicycles have become a very popular setting, we have bicycle routes in all the cities and if yo have to deliver something fast, you take a bike courier. Companies encourage their employers to come with the bike by giving them free bicycles, and so on.
Our municipal authorities made recently a poll about life quality in the city. 70% of the poeople say: traffic is the biggest problem. The town-council discusses now, whether they could establish a maut-system like London.
We really do not need so much car traffic in the city, everybody knows it. Driving car in the city it's the slowest and most stupid way to move: You never find a parking place, you drive detours in consequence of one-way streets, and you often stuck in jams (building sites, accidents, daily rush hours, festivals and other demonstrations ^_^)

Aggressive indirect action never won anything in a civilized society. If you want to affect change, do the Christlike thing and melt quietly into the crowd. Become an avatar of justice, above reproach -- earn respect rather than demanding it.
You misunderstood. The demonstration on wednesday was neither an agressive action nor illicit. It was a happy, peaceful manifestation of our concern, granted, organized and escorted by the police. Milla mentioned it: hooligans are much more inconvenient than political demonstrations.
And of course street action goes always together with other political work, the melting inside, as you call it. Yes, we have our representatives in the local council.

..... The group of people demonstrating in the street would have accomplished more handing out fliers or storming Bern with Kalashnikovs. ......
Again: It's not necessary, because we have our representatives in Bern too.

...... Perhaps the fact we have been democratic for far longer than Europe -- and we are far more respectful of democracy and the instutition thereof -- makes us more politically pragmatist, I dunno.
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Originally written by Fear Uncertainty and Custer:

Part of the permanent adversarial minority, are we?
Congrats! You just helped the major corporations stereotype everyone on your side of the argument and contributed to public apathy towards your cause, thereby setting it back by personal action alone at least a few weeks -- in only two hours! Way to go!

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by Sherlock Holmes: I can't find a good male subject anywhere. Not in real life, the Internet, Google, anywhere.

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Originally written by bigblue:

Hm. In Germany we had slang terms for different coins.
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Now that we have to use Euro instead of D-Mark they are all gone.
:(

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by Aran: The boards have been emptier without me? ... should I feel guilty for that, or guilty for not keeping it up recently?

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by WBS: Has anyone read Sophie's World?

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