Originally posted December 12, 2011.
Were you at Woodstock? It was a seminal event—some 500,000 strong. A little muddy and a little dopey, but what energy was delivered. People from all over the country showed up to peacefully protest Lyndon Johnson’s Vietnam War while they enjoyed great music from Joe Cocker, among many. Joe’s “With a Little Help From My Friends,” was the high-energy highlight. In 2009, Joe released a live album of his entire Woodstock set. This weekend I watched the two-disc Woodstock 40th Anniversary Edition. This Academy Award winning rendition includes a new retrospective, with features on The Museum at Bethel Woods and The Story of The Sixties & Woodstock.
Woodstock—3 Days of Peace and Music was a concert produced by a young guy named Michael Lang. Sound industry innovator Bill Hanley crafted Woodstock’s massive ALTEC/JBL custom sound system. Woodstock was unprecedented in scope and influence; a coming together of people from all walks of life with a single common goal.
I am convinced that the 2012 elections will require just such mega energy from the Tea Party in order to wipe team Obama from the American landscape. The Tea ideally would have a candidate who can project its views, as would a Patrick Henry, Harry Browne, Nigel Farage or Chris Christie. But if it doesn’t, the Tea is going to have to suck it up and get behind the candidate who gets the nod. It’s that simple. Defeating the Obama crowd is the job at hand and victory must be assured.
The Tea can balance the books by seeing to it that it locks down every House seat possible and promotes hard liners for the Senate. Controlling the House and Senate while cleansing the House leadership of Mr. Boehner would go a long way in forcing a new president to adopt policies constructive to the formation of a constitutionally strong federal republic. America has largely been on the wrong track since the days of Woodrow Wilson. He gave us WWI and the Fed, among other travesties. After Wilson came the disasters of FDR, Truman, Johnson, Carter, Bush, and now Obama, each delivering a long list of catastrophic intrusions into the lives of Americans. It all has to end, and 2012 needs to be the finish line.
I have written in the past of the Swiss Confederation and its weak central government form (the presidency is a ceremonial office and rotates). This year, it is lead by Micheline Calmy-Rey. Micheline has no powers above the other seven members of the Swiss Federal Council. The entire Federal Council is considered a collective head of state. Switzerland is a neutral country with the lowest crime rate in the world and a powerful national defense system. Instead of a standing army, Switzerland requires every man to undergo military training for a few days or weeks a year throughout most of his life. Each man is required to keep his assigned automatic rifle at home at the ready. The Swiss are powerful believers in individual liberty and freedom. They believe that there is no need for a higher legal authority to check people’s initiatives. In fact, federal court in Switzerland is not allowed to rule on any constitutional matter at the national level. The Swiss are all about keeping things at the cantonal level. Keep it local is the key in Switzerland.
There is a lot to learn for Americans from “the Swiss way.” Switzerland’s model is precisely the weak form of central government intended by our Founders. The best outline of what a constitutionally strong form of federal republic looks like is Ron Paul’s Liberty Defined. The chapter on “Empire” alone will amaze you.
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