In Switzerland, single majorities are sufficient at the town, city, and canton level, but at the national level, double majorities are required on constitutional matters. The intent of the double majorities is simply to ensure any citizen-made law's legitimacy (Kobach, 1993).

Double majorities are, first, the approval by a majority of those voting, and, second, a majority of cantons in which a majority of those voting approve the ballot measure. A citizen-proposed law (i.e. initiative) cannot be passed in Switzerland at the national level if a majority of the people approve, but a majority of the cantons disapprove (Kobach, 1993). For referendums or propositions in general terms (like the principle of a general revision of the Constitution), the majority of those voting is enough (Swiss constitution, 2005).

In 1890, when the provisions for Swiss national citizen lawmaking were being debated by civil society and government, the Swiss copied the idea of double majorities from the United States Congress, in which House votes were to represent the people and Senate votes were to represent the states (Kobach, 1993). According to its supporters, this "legitimacy-rich" approach to national citizen lawmaking has been very successful. Kobach claims that Switzerland has had tandem successes both socially and economically which are matched by only a few other nations, and that the United States is not one of them. Kobach states at the end of his book, "Too often, observers deem Switzerland an oddity among political systems. It is more appropriate to regard it as a pioneer." Finally, the Swiss political system, including its direct democratic devices in a multi-level governance context, becomes increasingly interesting for scholars of European Union integration (see Trechsel, 2005)

how could you expect him to make America unite?

the people of the United States don't have one iota of influence into their federal government and their actions.

Originally posted by operation mindcrime
reply to post by ImaNutter

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Thanks for that explanation ,

As i already mentioned, i am a nitwit when it comes to politics. So no offense taken...

Isn't that kinda the opposite of a democracy, whether it is a republic one or not??

Peace

I was intrigued by your original post because with your question about people working to change for what we want... it opens up all kinds of other questions, once we all realize how little involvement we have in the political process.

Originally posted by Misoir
reply to post by heliosprime

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I think you are confused, us on the left do everything that the passages of your bible say and then some. I don't see you right-wingers caring for people, we will give up our 75% of our paycheck to help total strangers yet all you do is give $200 a year to a charity and say god will praise you. You are truly dillusional, if that bible b.s. meant anything to me I would be even more offended. Actually if you think about it the people whom are religious and are on the left are far more holier than 'ye'.