In an op/ed piece published in the Bulletin (Philadelphia), author Michael P. Tremoglie is highly critical of Barack Obama and his ambitious plans to extend the nanny state. It's an interesting piece, especially in his use of 1969's mega-event Woodstock as a parallel. By doing so, Tremoglie creates a satirically persuasive argument while at the same time giving you a few facts I'm sure you won't know about the real, versus the mythical, happening...It was Woodstock - where a half million people gathered for three days of peace, love, and music.
Well, not quite.
There was certainly music and sex. However, the Woodstock nation was not such a tranquil group - at least they weren't until the controlled-substances kicked in. They almost rioted - which is why it became a free event.
One of the myths about Woodstock is that it was an altruistic affair. Woodstock was about profits. It was also about a jejune generation who needed a bailout, from the very people they despised, because they were incapable of providing for themselves.
John Roberts, the Ivy League heir to the Polident fortune, was one of the financiers. He and his partners called their business "Woodstock Ventures," a strictly profit-making enterprise.
Max Yasgur, whose farm was the location of the event and whose name was immortalized in song, was anything but a simple dairy farmer. He was an NYU graduate and, according to one source, one of the wealthiest farmers in the area. He also walked away with $75,000 or about $300,000 in current dollars. Not bad for the three-day rental of 600 idle acres.
The Who was paid the then unheard of sum of $12,000. Three other acts refused to perform until they were paid upfront. The promoters had to get an advance from a local banker on a Saturday night.
One other thing, Woodstock was not an event for the poor. A ticket was approximately 18 bucks, at a time when the minimum wage was a $1.60. When factoring the travel expenses and, of course, the drugs, attending the concert was at least a week's pay - something the average working class or poor American could not afford to forsake.
"I remember building a fire one morning for breakfast. All we had was hot dogs and spaghetti," a Woodstock alumnus waxed nostalgically in a Woodstock 25th anniversary magazine article several years ago. Yet, a few hundred miles away from the concert lived people who would have loved to have had hot dogs and spaghetti for breakfast. They would have loved breakfast. Over $2 million was spent staging Woodstock (about $10 million today), which would have bought many a breakfast in Appalachia.
The concert exposed the hypocrisy, selfishness, and incompetence of the Left. Half a million people spent money and took food that could have been donated to the poor - just so they could have a good time. Indeed, the only money donated was to Abbie Hoffman's fanatics and only because they extorted it by threatening to disrupt the concert.
Some people want to erect a monument to Woodstock. Hillary Clinton obtained federal funding for it. What is there to venerate? Woodstock was nothing more than kids with no responsibilities acting irresponsibly.
The ineptitude, puerility, indolence, rashness, and hypocrisy of Woodstock was emblematic of their generation - the same generation that is trying desperately to maintain control of America and elect Barack Obama President of the United States and re-elect Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House.
