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by justin66 2244 days ago
I would have thought that a race for the bottom, which is a real concept that you don't have to put in scare quotes, among the Cantons could be arrested by the citizenship and registration requirements each Canton has. For example, if too many poor are moving in to use the Canton's services, which their own Cantons refuse to provide, simply don't allow them to register.

This kind of race for the bottom in Switzerland is admittedly a rather fantastical idea, but for cultural reasons, not organizational ones, I think. Though the organizational differences are certainly big!
1 comments
bhupy 2244 days ago
From an organizational perspective, the United States is uniquely well setup to emulate this model. There's no need for systemic changes or amendments to the US Constitution.

The cultural challenge is to convince most Americans of this fact, and get them to embrace subsidiarity[1], as a principle.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsidiarity

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justin66 2244 days ago
> From an organizational perspective, the United States is uniquely well setup to emulate this model. There's no need for systemic changes or amendments to the US Constitution.

Cantons (and, IIRC, municipalities) have their own citizenship rules. This is totally antithetical to the US constitution.

There's plenty that they do that we could also do, yes, although it's useful to be specific.

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bhupy 2244 days ago
I’m sorry if I wasn’t more clear: the Cantonal citizenship rules are meant to demonstrate the degree of decentralization.

Swiss citizens (and immigrants) are free to move and reside through Cantons as they please, just like the US. In this regard, the US Constitution creates a structure of government virtually identical to that of Switzerland. If we enshrined, say, sanctuary laws in States, there would essentially be no structural difference.

Once you become a naturalized Swiss citizen in Zurich, you’re free to move to Zug, or Jura, or wherever else you please.

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justin66 2240 days ago
> Once you become a naturalized Swiss citizen in Zurich, you’re free to move to Zug, or Jura, or wherever else you please.

That's what I wasn't sure about. Thanks!

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