From a classical liberal perspective, Switzerland's governance seems utopian. Low taxes, good services even for low income people despite the low taxes, very decentralized government, and it really does seem true that "no one bothers to know who the president is".

My big question: what's the catch?

Like, what stops every other country from adopting a Swiss-style political system?

(This is not a rhetorical question, I'm actually curious)

the population size a) makes Swiss-style politics possible, and b) makes it hard for larger countries to adopt.

the population of Switzerland is 8.7M people (ranks #101). NYC, a city within a state within a country, is 8.5M.

Note: Europeans are estimated to be 6% of global population in 2050 — down from 22% in 1950