Growth is not a dogma, or an end unto itself.
— Stefan Schmid, the editor-in-chief of the Swiss newspaper, ‘St. Galler Tagblatt’.
Last Sunday in Switzerland — the country known more affectionately as ‘Confédération suisse’ or ‘Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft’ or ‘Confederazione Svizzera’ or ‘Confederaziun svizra’, depending on which of the country’s official languages you happen to speak — the voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have capped the country’s population at 10 million residents. (Current population: about 9.1 million.)
The amendment had been placed on the June 14 ballot by the right-leaning Swiss People’s Party — more affectionately known as ‘Schweizerische Volksparte’ (SVP) or ‘Union démocratique du centre’ (UDC) or ‘Unione Democratica di Centro’ (UDC) or ‘Partida populara Svizra’ (PPS). The official tally shows that the measure lost, with a 55% ‘No’ vote.
Luckily, Switzerland brews excellent beer, and we can guess what the party officials (SVP or UDC or PPS) were doing on Sunday evening.
At any rate, this could be a cautionary tale for those of us who would like to limit the population of Pagosa Springs. (Current population: about 14,500.)
As we all know, Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world, per capita, which isn’t too surprising, given the popularity of their secret bank accounts, plus the fact that their labor force participation is, like, 80% of adults, compared to less than 62% here in the U.S.
I bet the labor force participation in Pagosa Springs is even lower than 62%, based on the number of my friends who are retired. Which is nearly all of them.
But we still hear local elected leaders saying things like, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying.” That’s a recent quote from a County Commissioners meeting, in the newspaper.
We don’t speak four official languages in Colorado, but the Spanish language is relatively popular here, and we could translate this adage about growth and death as: Si no estás creciendo, estás muriendo. I didn’t find that phrase quoted in the newspaper, however.
When I hear people make this ‘growth’ claim — in whatever language — I like to point out that I stopped growing when I was 19. I wouldn’t have minded being a bit taller, but you get what you get. Luckily, my belly has continued growing unabated, because when it stops growing, it might mean I am dying. An ugly thought, but possibly true.
Be that as it may, the voters in Switzerland decided on Sunday that they didn’t want to cap population growth in precisely the way the right-leaning Swiss People’s Party wanted it capped. The Party’s arguments in favor of the amendment focused mainly on protecting the environment and slowing down the housing affordability crisis in Switzerland.
Those are things we could address here in Pagosa Springs. But our right-leaning party — the local Republican Party — has not seemed terribly interested in anything other than preventing trans athletes from competing in women’s sports.
One of the more controversial parts of the proposed Swiss law would have required Switzerland to, essentially, quit the European Union if the Swiss population hit 10 million. That particular requirement may have helped bring about the measure’s defeat. The European Union is kind of a big deal, in Europe.
Switzerland isn’t an actual member of the EU, but they adopted certain provisions of EU law in order to participate in the Union’s single market, without joining as a member state. For example, Switzerland agreed to abide by a law that allows anyone from any EU country to reside and work anywhere in the EU. Apparently, a lot of people from other EU countries want to live in Switzerland, which has caused the population to grow rather spectacularly. Some of the foreigners brought their wives, which added to the problem.
Nevertheless, the economy grew. And grew. Almost embarrassingly so.
As did the right-leaning Swiss People’s Party. A growing, but increasingly unhappy, political group.
Which goes to remind us that, generally speaking, the more affluent and influential people become, the more unhappy they are.
Pagosa Springs has never been tempted to join the EU. We have enough trouble just being part of the United States — a union of sorts, that allows Texans and Californians to reside and work in any U.S. state, without needing a passport or work visa.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.