tfl: The Flatiron Life

Here is Lew Rockwell’s next 30 days. I don’t find it as Earth shattering as his first 30 days, but it is just as needed. As I read it, I kept thinking, this is all stuff we could do right now and no one would notice. No one would notice because know one know what the heck X Federal agency or Y International Organization does. This list of action is filled with shotting down agencies and leaving organizations that I know I have never heard of. I am guessing hardly any Americans know they are funding these groups that are designed to “protect” us by limiting our choice and propping up the establishment. Have you heard of any of these?

My favorate day though is not about leaving anything or shuttig something down. It is about returning a check we once had to balance in the American Experiment.

DAY TWENTY-FOUR: The Seventeenth Amendment mandating direct election of U.S. senators is repealed, and state legislatures once again elect senators as their representatives, vastly strengthening the states as against the federal ex-leviathan.

I think this move is underrated for its effect. The Seventeenth Amendment finally severed the peer connection the Federal and State governments had. Lincoln merged us into a union and the 17th subjugated the States.

I did not start off my series on National Holidays very well. Turns out this month is September and not August. That means yesterday was not the Swiss National Holiday and missed the opportunity to commemorate the Uzbek Independence, I will get you next year.

Today the Vietnamese celebrate H? Chí Minh, aka Charlie, declaring North Vietnam, or Democratic Republic of Vietnam if you like, “free” from France in 1945. As is usually the case if you name includes both Democratic and Republic you are probably neither and likely to get in a war with these United States. We all know this happened and the US lost and North and South were married into modern Vietnam in 1976 as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. As often happens in unbalanced marriage, the South now only celebrates the Norths holidays and today we say “Happy Independence Day Vietnam; Get back to work on the collectivist farms. Papa needs some more cashews.” I hope strengthened trade and education will help the Vietnamese be able to strengthen their desire for liberty and one day be able to truly celebrate.

Today is the national holiday of the Swiss Confederation. It celebrates the Federal Charter of 1291 which formed League Of The Three Forest Cantons: Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. These three cantons are now in the middle of Switzerland. Although the holiday is celebrated today, the Bundesbrief was not signs 1 August 1291. The Charter only refers to “Early August.”

Also, this is a relatively recent holiday to be celebrated in the neutral heart of Europe. Over the last century the Bundesfeier displaced Rütlischwur, marking the Oath of the Old Swiss Confederation on 8 November 1307. This displacement allowed the Swiss to celebrate their 600th anniversary in 1907 and their 650th in 1941, just 34 years apart. Of course being neutral, the Swiss had nothing else going on in 1941.

I find national holidays interesting. I am not going to turn this into the holiday talk blog. However, I wanted to warn you before I started posting about a national holiday everyday.