(Email sent me)

We\'ve been in Switzerland for a few days and are already learning a lot.  I really like the Swiss.  They\'re really friendly and they\'re totally into bottom up solutions to solve their problems rather than top down.  I think this is the only country in the world that has a reasonable idea of what democracy should be.  To think that Americans don\'t give a damn or understand states rights, yet the Swiss and their tiny little country is divided into even tinier little states and they take state rights very seriously and it works.  They have post cards all over that say "In Gold We Trust" and postcards with a big dollar sign, under it saying "A Swiss Tradition".  Ayn Rand would have loved that.  Switzerland is very wealthy, but they don\'t flaunt it at all.  Everyone is very nice, their homes are very humble, being built out of old wood to blend in with the forests, they drive simple tiny cars and actually have found a way to make public transportation work to boot.  Oh yeah, and like Latvia, you never see a single police officer or police vehicle.  Another good sign.  Gundega and I totally want to retire here.  They may have mandatory military service here, but when they\'ve proven themselves to be strictly defense, that doesn\'t seem so bad.  Reminds me of the 1880\'s quote from Chief Joseph, Nez Perce...