Word: emmens
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...sobering thought recently when I heard that the citizens of Emmen, Switzerland (pop. 27,000), had been permitted to decide which of the 56 immigrants living among them should be granted citizenship--voting in an election that had some characteristics of fraternity rush week. It occurred to me that if the citizens of St. Joseph, Mo., had been given similar power in 1910 or so, my family would probably have lost in a landslide...
...Emmen, a Lucerne suburb, eligible voters received a booklet that included not only pictures of each prospective citizen but also information on his financial affairs and even his hobbies. I can't see my forebears scoring any points in the hobby section. My great-uncle Benny did grow tomatoes in his backyard, and I had a great-aunt who liked to spend her spare time nagging. Otherwise, I can't remember that crowd having any hobbies, unless you count comical attempts to speak English...
...first step of naturalization is handled on the local level, and lately a right-wing party has led an effort to make the decision by popular ballot. The view of political analysts on what the central issue of the immigrants' election would be was borne out by the Emmen results, which cleared eight of the 56 applicants: if an immigrant is from Italy he has a chance and if he's from the Balkans he doesn...
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