What do you classify yourself as?

[tyjet3]

Just wondering where everyone stands...

[Hogosha Ookami]

this is an actual party, seriously, it is recognized by the government

 

United States National Officail Monster Raving Looney Part (aka USNOMRL)

 

We beleive that the current stae of polotics and government has driven us insane so we just party.

[sixtofive]

here's a dangerous question huh.....

[Slaiv]

this is an actual party, seriously, it is recognized by the government

 

United States National Officail Monster Raving Looney Part (aka USNOMRL)

 

We beleive that the current stae of polotics and government has driven us insane so we just party.

I. Am joining. Right now.

[UberBender]

I think I'm Chaotic Neutral...

[surian]

I'm just me :D I'm completely independant of any political party because there is no political party that I believe in 100%. If I had to choose one I would be siding a little more with the green party than anything else but they are a little bit nutty for me in a lot of respects and I can't ever vote for them because our country doesn't allow for 3rd parties (another issue, maybe a new thread... hmmm).

[m_gobes]

I'm more of semi-conservative republican because compared to most people I have a dull life of high standards. but there is a lot of stuff that I do that Really good people don't do.

[Darnoc]

I don't really like the party system of the USA. What you got as the two major parties is either "right" or "far right". The USA doesn't really have a left party, like a socialist or communist party.

 

That is why I write here down the parties of Switzerland. We have more and the power differences between the different parties is not as big as in the USA.

 

OK, here the four major parties. They share seats in the federal councils (the executive), there are 7 seats available. The three biggest of those four have two seats each, the smallest of the four has one seat.

 

SVP (Swiss Peoples Party; far right)

SP (Socialist party; left)

FDP ("Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei" usually called "Economy Party"; right middle)

CVP (Christian Peoples Party, the Catholic Party; middle)

 

 

Here follow some other important parties (all have seats in the parliament:

 

GPS (Green Party; far left; it is the fitht greatest party)

EVP (Evangelist Peoples Party; left middle)

LPS (Liberal Party; middle)

EDU ("Eidgenössisch Demokratische Union", conservative-christian party, far far right)

SD (Swiss Democrats; far far right)

Lega dei Ticinesi (far right Italian party)

PdA (Partei der Arbeit; communist party; far far left)

GB (Green league; far left)

CSP (Christian-socialist party; left)

Alternative Liste/Linkes Bündnis (alliance of different left parties; far left)

AdG ("Alliance de Gauche" French left party; far left)

SGA (Socialist-Green Alternative; far left)

 

 

Take your pick :)

 

I myself am a member of the Green party. (13 seats in the parliament; therefore fitht greatest party, right next to the four major parties)

[Eiade]

Well, the US is a democratic republic, and its etched in stone (not literally) in our history and constitution that we will always be a democracy (actually, we're a democratic republic, but it's that doesn't take away from the point). So your left is not our left. Yes, we do have communist and socialist parties, but they are practically unheard-of in our politics. We will always be a democracy, so the two main parties are left-democracy and right-democracy, as there are not nearly enough socialists to ever make a difference..

 

Plus, it would seem to me that the fewer parties you have, the more people that can be happy with a presidential election. Do all of the Swiss parties really have their own president (do you guys have presidents or prime ministers or what? I'm ignorant about Switzerland)? If so, that would mean they would go by who has the biggest amount of votes, which may or may not even be the majority. Or are there a few main canidates, and the partries vote for whoever most closely fits their opinions? This is all out of speculation, so correct me if this statement is utterly wrong; I really don't know much about Switzerland.

 

Uh oh, did I dare oppose Darnoc's political wrath and current event savvy? Brace yourself, Eiade.

[Darnoc]

The Swiss party system is based on "Concordia" (unity). All parties unite in order to do their job: help the people. At least in the executive. The Federal council, in which all four major parties have at least one seat, has always only one opinion. They discuss a problem inside the council and when the majority of councillors is for something, the others join them, so that the Federal council always is united in its oppinion.

 

So we don't have a president, we have a council. And in Switzerland, not the Executive (federal council) is the most powerful governmental institution, but the united Federal assembly, consisting of the National council and Council of Cantons, the head of this institution is the National Council President, elected every year (the head of the legislative), he is reffered to as the "First Swiss Citizen".

 

But the most powerful institution at all in Switzerland is the people themselves. We can overrull all decisions made by our government with a referendum, followed by a voting of the people. Or we can make our own laws with a peoples initiative, which also follows a voting of the people. And we elect of course the members of the National Council and the Council of Cantons, the federal council is elected by the United Federal Assembly (N.C. and C.o.C.).

 

We are a direct democracy. Acctually, we are the most direct democracy in the world and we are proud of it, as we are proud of our neutrality and our concordia. All parties in Switzerland do believe in democracy, even the PdA (communist party).

 

The Socialist party is acctually the most powerful party in Switzerland. No one would ever think of that our democracy and the socialist party don't fit together. We acctually believe, direct democracy wouldn't work without our wide range of oppinions. That is why we cannot understand how the Americans can call their system "democracy" when both major parties are about the same. The Democrates resemble our FDP (what a lot of people call "economy party" because most employees are in this party) and the Republicans resemble our SVP. Both those parties are considered right and they are two of the four major parties. The other ones are SP (socialist party, left) and Christian-Democratic-Party (catholic party, middle). Of those four, the Socialist party has the most seats in the National council and is therefore the mighties party in Switzerland.

 

All our parties believe in democracy, concordia and neutrality. No party would ever think of going into opposition. It was acctually a shock for the nation when the SVP declared before the election of the federal council that they would go into opposition when they wouldn't receive their rightly second seat. Everyone was releaved when Christoph Blocher was elected as the second federal councellor for the SVP.

 

I said, all our parties believe in democracy. This includes (almost) extreme right parties like the Swiss Democrates and the very conservative Swiss Peoples Party (SVP) and the extreme left Party of Work (PdA, communist party) and the Socialist party. The Socialist party is acctually considered not to be extreme left, but rather middle left. The Green party is more left than the SP.

 

My point is: Democracy doesn't exclude socialism, communism and green parties. Perhaps we should give our Socialist party a new name then: Democratic Socialist party. Because there is no party in Switzerland which would think of abolishing democracy.