Photo: Pixabay, comfreak

 

How Governments are Using Democracy to TAKE AWAY Freedom – The Organic Prepper

The Organic Prepper, Fabian Ommar

Francesco Abbruzzino, The Uncensored Report, LLC

 

 

Can democracy be used to take freedom and liberty from a people? Last Sunday, the Swiss government called a referendum for the population to decide for or against the health passport that was introduced in September. Apparently, the majority of the Swiss took the blue pill and essentially green-lighted the government’s plan to restrict their own civil liberties even further.

 

The Swiss public firmly rejected a plan to abolish the country’s COVID certificate. Sixty-two percent of voters said ‘Yes’ to keeping the health pass, which was introduced in September, and not seek major amendments to Switzerland’s COVID law. (Source)

 

This is the second time the Swiss government asked the population about policies and measures to contain the pandemic this year:

Sunday’s poll was the second time in less than six months that the Swiss public has voted on the government’s response to the pandemic. In June, 60% of voters approved prolonging national measures. (Source)

 

Reading about the Swiss referendum reminded me of other relatively recent cases in which the population has been called to decide on seemingly relevant issues, and ended up in fact more polarized and in an overall worse situation than before. I’ll talk about it in a moment so stick with me.

 

Switzerland is a direct democracy

Hence, the population being asked to decide on policies and initiatives is common and frequent. Sunday’s referendum was the third in 2021 and hundreds have been called since the 1848 Swiss Constitution.

 

Now, even if the Swiss government doesn’t use Sunday’s referendum as a mandate to tighten restrictions – the implementation of approved measures isn’t mandatory – they now have this option validated. The people have decided that a divisive and restrictive initiative against their own people is legitimate.

It’s fair to assume the reason this came out so perplexing and got splashed all over the news is the fact that the Swiss are traditionally a conservative people. They prize independence, individual freedom, and civil liberties above all. Is it a sign of the times they let something so menacing to all that come to pass? I suspect it is, and that’s what this article is about.

 

The power-grabbing script

Governments only take power by force in countries with weak and unstable institutions and populations. With all the advancements that have taken place in the last 20 or 30 years, violent coups and dictatorships only happen in some very specific places and circumstances (is it seeing a comeback?).

 

In more advanced democracies, the power-grabbing schemes follow a more sophisticated script – one that has been used successfully many times throughout history by governments and authorities looking to increase their power. Rights are taken bit by bit, through all kinds of Machiavellian manipulations to divide the population, rarely enrolling its support.

  • Stoke fear among the population.
  • Throw in measures to test waters.
  • Politicize issues to promote divisiveness.
  • Return the question to the population to reveal it on the open, solidify the polarization, and give civil approval to authoritarian initiatives.

 

Once the camel’s nose is under the tent, people become more willing to accept, comply and conform to (perhaps even demand) further and more restrictive policies that more often than not work against themselves.

 

Doesn’t always work, of course. But this time it seems the stars have aligned and fear is working its magic. The power-grabbing script stuck in one of the bastions of independence and freedom – though I guess with everything that’s going on in Australia, Austria, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, US, UK and many others (I’ve lost count already), perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised.

 

Are referendums good or bad for democracy?

First, let’s look in more detail at these forms of public consultation.

 

A referendum is “a general vote by the electorate on a single political question which has been referred to them by the electorate for a direct decision”. In other words, it’s called after the publication of a law to validate it or not. This is the case of Switzerland on the health pass, and also Brazil in 2005 on gun rights.

 

Plebiscites on the other hand are a vote by the people to decide on some issue. It’s called before the enactment of a law. One example is the Brexit, when the British were called to decide if they wanted the UK to be part of the EU. Though by a tight margin, the majority voted for leaving. The parliament then negotiated the terms and enacted the exit, which is still ongoing.

 

At the surface, the idea of letting the people manifest their will and decide about something that impacts them directly may seem “good”, a sign of a healthy democracy. But beyond the fact that this strategy has been used in recent history to subvert the very principles and causes of democracy, nothing speaks more eloquently than the results of these processes.

When Brazilians lost their gun rights

In February 1997, then-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso sanctioned the first law that restricted firearms ownership and illegal carrying of weapons. Up to that point, it was a right warranted by the Brazilian Constitution and essentially a non-issue.

 

A heated debate followed in the political and civil spheres, stoked by the left’s parties and executive that took office in 2002, who did its best to sway the public opinion. In 2003 the congress enacted the Estatuto do Desarmamento (Disarmament Statute), severely restricting the commerce, purchase, ownership and carrying of firearms, ammunition and other products.

 

Among these and other anti-gun propositions, the Statute envisaged a referendum to be held in October of 2005, when the population would decide for, or against, the Statute itself – specifically, the article that prohibited the commerce and purchase of firearms by law-abiding and clean-file citizens.

 

In short, the way the whole deal was proposed and presented muddied the issue and confused the population, completely reversing the question and consequently botching the results. In the end, 63.94% of the population voted “NO”, believing they were rejecting the prohibition – when in fact they were voting in favor of the Disarmament Statute. I tell you this: once it’s gone, it’s bye-bye, baby. Ask anyone in South America.

 

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