by George Dorgan
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On June 18th, 2014, the new radical libertarian party UP!, “Unabhängigkeitspartei”, Independent Party was founded. The party is co-lead by the former head of the Swiss young liberals, Brenda Mäder, the former head of the young liberals St. Gallen Simon Scherrer and by Silvan Amberg, the former leader of FDP’s homosexual association. The Swiss FDP is losing some of their brightest minds.
Brenda Mäder
After the restoration in 1815, the people in Europe protested against the feudal system. The Swiss saw a strong liberation movement that some years later disintegrated in liberals and radicals. The latter were also called “Freisinn”, “free thinkers”; they wanted to go further than the former. They wanted to replace the existing census-based elections by general free elections and achieve a radical break with the feudal burdens.
The Swiss Free Democratic Party (FDP) is the successor of the liberal-radical ideas; its French name “Parti radical-démocratique” still maintains the radical origins, and it is mostly called “les radicaux”. Unfortunately today, the FDP politicians only do what the corporates behind them want them to do. The FDP has become a part of the political establishment and Swiss corporatism. The Parti radical-démocratique has become a part of the restoration, a part of the original enemy.
Today many parties call themselves liberal, but they say “liberal” simply because this word is useful to defend the ideas of the corporates or unions. The FDP and similar left-wing parties, e.g. the socialists, want to obtain money from the whole people in the form of taxes. Then they want to distribute these taxes to their clientèle, to their collective in essentially the same way the old feudal system did. Just with a hugely higher total tax burden of 59% compared to values of around 10% in the 18th century. 120 laws are passed each year in Switzerland to improve the power of the collectives and to reduce individual rights. The Swiss debt is at 188 billion francs, excluding the public pension system and potential liabilities of the Swiss National Bank. Swiss tax levels are only slightly higher than the ones in France.
On June 18th, 2014, the new radical libertarian party UP!, “Unabhängige Partei”, Independent Party was founded, which is a party that is independent of the state, independent of the prevailing corporatism and collectivism and independent of the new Big Brother System that is built to preserve the feudal power of existing collectives.
UP! is neither left nor right. It is simply radically libertarian.
UP! wants:
- A radical dismantling of the power of the state.
- Fewer and simpler taxes.
- Stronger tax competition and therefore an abolishment of the inter-cantonal fiscal equalisation scheme.
- Reduction of debt.
- Reduction of public services, of social security systems and of the public redistribution.
- A gradual replacement of the public pension system (AHV).
Neutral Switzerland without restrictions on immigration and trade.
- An independent and neutral Switzerland.
- A Swiss entry into EU or NATO are not options.
- Abolishment of foreign aid that wastes resources, but unilateral introduction of free trade.
- Free migration (without access to social security systems).
- Privatisation of the asylum system.
Self-determined life.
- Legalisation of all drugs.
- No infantilizing of the individual: against curfews, against bans on gambling, on advertising, on “killer games” and on alcohol in public places.
- Easier access to euthanasia.
- Abolishment of universal military conscription.
- No taxes for the promotion of culture.
Based on Political Compass German Elections 2013 and Tagesanzeiger
UP’s current campaigns are:
- Abolishment of TV license fees – No Billag.
- Against the Big Brother State, against the BÜPF – www.buepf.ch.
To the right UP! in the Swiss political compass.
The German version of the UP! Program is available here.
The link to the UP!-Schweiz Website.
