Commentary: Now Valérie Dittli is Also Liberal – The Tragedy of a Tarnished Term

The term "liberal" in Swiss politics has become so broadly and ambiguously applied that it risks losing its meaning, according to this commentary. The recent formation of the "Mouvement libéral" by Valérie Dittli, an isolated Vaudois politician, serves as a case in point. Dittli, who left the centrist party after a tax scandal and character-related issues, has now positioned herself at the head of a new movement, seemingly adopting the "liberal" label for strategic or perhaps retaliatory reasons.

This phenomenon is not new in Switzerland, where "liberal" is attached to various political factions, including left-liberals, right-liberals, ordoliberals, neoliberals, economic liberals, and social liberals. Even figures like Christoph Blocher claim the SVP is "liberal-conservative," and the FDP has used "liberal" as a synonym for "freisinnig" (radical liberal) since 2009. The commentary suggests that the term can be combined with almost anything, even its opposite, leading to potentially contradictory labels like "authoritarian liberal" or "dogmatic liberal."

The article delves into the historical roots of this definitional struggle, referencing Gottfried Keller's complex relationship with liberalism in the mid-19th century. Keller, a participant in the anti-clerical Freischärlerzüge, struggled with the concept and viewed influential figures like Alfred Escher, a proponent of radical liberalism, as representing an "economic state" or a "money animal." This historical tension underscores that the definition of liberalism has been contested since the inception of modern Switzerland.

Switzerland itself, founded on a liberal federal constitution after the 1848 revolutions, established a unified economic and legal space that fostered its current prosperity. However, the commentary argues that the very term "liberal" has been stretched and distorted to the point where its original significance is obscured, making Dittli's new party a symbol of this "tragedy of a tarnished term."