People are allowed to have opinions about what other people decided.
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And I’m allowed to have opinions about those opinions. So what?
Seriously? Half of Switzerland is shopping across the border, at Aldi in Germany! Cross border shopping is a recognised national sport in a country where everything is unaffordable.
The whole system is clearly set up to be as racist as possible, just a bit more blatantly so, than that of other jurisdiction, e.g. let’s say the UK.
As you say the Swiss don’t trust people from the next village let alone anyone even remotely foreign looking or sounding, but inscribing such attitudes into law is beyond contempt. They can keep their mountains and foul mood.
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Sure! And as soon as the Swiss change their opinion, they can change the system as well.
So what you are saying isn’t even wrong, it’s meaningless. You’re repeating “this is what the Swiss want” as if it’s a killer argument but all everyone is saying is “they should want something else.”
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Yep! and maybe it’s time for the rest of the world to decide to tighten up their banking regulations and see what the Swiss think of that.
Oh wait, the EU is doing jus that while little England has decided to jump ship. I wonder why? 
At this rate the Swiss and English can continue to outdo each other both in dehumanising nationalisation regulation and non existent banking regulations.
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By which you mean “they should want what I want.”
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No, I’m saying that the wording presumes that there is a test, in the sense of testable, if not gradable, points one can check of a list. And that this is the normal way, that obviously have to be this way in a given society.
The Swiss, cads that they are, apparently somehow do not think that way. They reserve themselves the right for the community to decide whom to accept into that community.
And this is the point where “venom” and “poison” come into play. English people distinguish between those on a word level, Germanic people don’t. Is one of the groups “objectively right”? Hell, no.
The same with how your organise your community, even your concepts of community.
If the Swiss way doesn’t work, they’ll lose out a lot of immigrants with awesome personalities and skills. But that’s also their call.
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Yes, that is indeed the definition of disagreeing with someone.
Not really. I can disagree with someone without demanding that they adopt my position, or else.
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Ah thank you for clarification because i had re-read that and was just not getting it. I see we’re in agreement and that you were merely adding to the commentary being made here.
I just think that by this logic of things being subjective it seems that i ask myself where is the line? If they get to decide who belongs in their community do they get to decide who can have children too and how many? Do these sovereign citizens also get to subjectively say who passes their driver’s tests? Obviously this is not how things are, but giving ordinary people the ability to directly decide citizenship opens up a large opportunity for abuse.
Though i am keenly aware that this is about a country/community i have no connection to and discussing what i think about their citizenship process seems… pointless.
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Where’s this “or else” coming from? What do you think the dastardy @gracchus is gonna do to poor Switzerland if they don’t change things?
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@nojaboja above has some ideas on that front.
Oh, the Swiss – like every other OECD country – have plenty of national authorities applying rules to all cantons when the national interest is involved. What is citizenship in a nation-state if not a matter of the national interest?
Also, how would you reconcile the contention that every canton is different (e.g. in terms of language, ethnicity, religious tradition, to name just a few especially relevant ones) and thus deserving of local autonomy in such matters with your contention that Switzerland has a “fairly homogeneous population”? I can think of only one definition of “homogeneous” that could reconcile the two.
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The cantons have a relatively homogeneous population.
Ask the Swiss.
Well, why isn’t the line “I identify as an Exemplarian, so I can vote in the Exemplarian elections have all the others privileges of being an Exemplarian cititzen”?
BBS Lieutenant Commanders and above.
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That, in essence, is what @doctorow’s article is doing: how can Switzerland consider itself a modern nation-state when it gives local bigots the means, via these nutty questions, to reject candidates for citizenship in the entire country?
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That’s not a definition I’d recognise. I’m an EU citizen, and don’t give a flying **** about my local community.
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Which is why the citizenship by birth policy adopted by the US and Canada is so great for integrating immigrants into the nation’s culture, politics and society. Citizenship tests being based on a basic study of the country’s history. They do immigration correctly. The rest of the world is catching up to it.
It is fair for Americans to make fun of the lousy immigration policies of other countries because of it.
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