Hi, Hi Mike, et. al., Well if we had more choices there might be less of a need for negative voting. What I mean is that it seems like a long long time since either of the two parties have put up candidates whom I wanted to vote for. Rather, I find myself voting for the one I least dislike. Derek
-------------- Original message ---------------------- From: Michael Redler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Thanks Doug, > > I think nitpicking (as you say) is allowed in this forum. > > It's always good to have someone around who is interested in checking the > details. > > The only additional thing I would encourage is to look for what can't be > found > in print. "The proof of the pudding is in the tasting" and sometimes required > a > plane ticket. > > One side note: I wonder what would happen if we had a coalition government, > required to "play nice" with six or eight political parties and forced to > negotiate our differences. As it is, we have difficulty with only two. :-) > > Mike > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > With apologies for nitpicking, herewith some extracts from > "Political Switzerland", a small book by Oswald Sigg (Zurich: Pro > Helvetia, 1997): > > "The Swiss Government is called the Federal Council. It consists of seven > members and is headed for a period of one year by a president elected from > among the Federal Council members." > > "Ever since 1944, the [party] composition of the government has remained > the same..." > > "The Federal Council is elected by Parliament every four years (both > chambers meet in the National Council Hall)..." > > "The meetings of the Federal Council are chaired by the President of the > Confederation who is elected for one year only from among the Federal > Councillors. He is thus something in the nature of a prime Minister ad > interim whose office consists first and foremost of chairing the meetings > of the Federal Council and performing certain representative duties. > During his year as president he also continues to be head of his own > department. Switzerland has no actual head of state. When a foreign head > of state, or even a queen, visits Berne [the capital of Switzerland], > they are usually received by all seven members of the Federal Council." > > "Each member of the Federal Council is the head of a department, or of > what would be known abroad as a ministry. There are just seven such > departments in Switzerland, so that each head of department is responsible > for several sub-divisions which usually correspond to several ministries > abroad." > > "The Swiss Parliament, the Federal Assembly, is made up of two chambers: > the National Council, with 200 members, and the Council of States, with 46 > members [2 per canton = U.S. state or Canadian province]." > > The Assembly is elected by proportional representation. In 1995 it > contained four relatively large parties and 8 small ones. > > Since the party composition of the government hasn't changed since 1944 > and elections are likely to affect only personalities and particular > measures, the turnout for elections to the Assembly tends to be low; 42.2% > in 1995. > > By petition of 50,000 citizens within 90 days of the passage of a law, it > may be required to be ratified by a referendum. > > In the cantons, proposals for laws may be put forward by a petition > to be submitted to a referendum. The Federal Constitution is also subject > to change through an initiative by petition of 100,000 citizens, followed > by a referendum. > > Doug Woodard > St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada > > > > On Fri, 4 Feb 2005, Michael Redler wrote: > > > ...for what it's worth, My grandmother's house is only 400+ years old. > Freudian slip? :-) > > > > Michael Redler wrote:Hi Kieth, > > > > There's a lot of stuff you threw out there. To address it all would take a > heck of a lot of time -- suffice to say that I agree with most of it. > > > > Switzerland: If part of it's government was based on the US constitution, > > you > wouldn't know it. It gained it's Independence over 700 years ago and I think > they had it pretty much nailed down before Jefferson put pen to paper. I > visited > my grandmother two weeks ago as I've done almost every year since I was an > infant. Her 700+ year old house is a testament to their cautious attitude > toward > "progress" (I'm alluding to housing development). > > > > You are right about voting. Before my Aunt could build her new house, it > > had > to be approved by those in her neighborhood. She, in fact, had to build a > stick > frame of the house to show its size and shape and offer a visual aid for all > who > would approve it (or not). > > > > "Presidents": They have seven of them, representing all of the regions of > > the > confederation. Since Switzerland has four national languages, They are > usually > fluent in two or three of them (German French Italian and Rhetto-Romanish). > This > makes me wonder about the whole one nation, one language thing. > > > > I don't want to go on too long -- especially since I think you already did > > a > great job covering much of this. I just wanted to offer some perspective as a > witness to quite another interpretation of democracy. I sometimes see my > relatives and the country they live in with envy. This is a country that > hasn't > experienced war within its borders since the crossbow was the weapon of > choice. > They have a well organized, cohesive government where you don't have to own a > car and you would be hard-pressed to find a hungry child -- all of this while > the language (and sometimes culture) can change within a thirty minute walk. > > > > Mike > > [snip] > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
