Children of the Flower-Children. The "make love, not war" candidacy.
Submitted by Nick Kelly on February 22, 2008 - 6:04pm.
Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | Democratic politics
OK. I know we weren't all flower-children back in the 60s and early 70s. But there is so much of that Woodstock/"make love-not war" driven imagery, that it's possible some of our kids either imagine that we were or wish that we had been....I'll come back to this. But first, the prequel:
My parents both died in the early 60s, so they never got to see me with my long hair, worn-out jeans, torn t-shirt, and "granny" glasses. However, I have no doubt that if they had, they would have wondered what I'd been smoking (to say the least)! :) And if they had lived to hear about me participating in anti-war demonstrations, I figure they would have concluded that I'd temporarily gone out of my mind, like so many of those other "crazy hippies". My Dad, I'm pretty sure, would have had one of those bumper stickers that said, "If you don't like cops, next time you're in trouble, call a hippie." Of course, I never saw myself as a hippie. I saw myself as a principled anti-war activist. But that distinction probably wouldn't even "compute" for my Dad, who likely would have figured one was as mis-guided as the other.
So, here's my confession, all these years later. When it comes to my reaction to the Obama crusade, I'm starting to realize that I have something in common with my parents. I've spent lots of time wondering how so many young people (and even a few old people) could have become so irrational that they actually believe Senator Obama can win a big victory next November.
Then today, it finally hit me. These youngsters are our offspring. As they grew up, they learned how terrible the country was for people of color back before the 1960s. They also learned how an anti-war movement composed of mainly white "hippies" joined forces with civil rights groups and subsequently forced one President to retire early, helped get another to resign, and helped bring an end to a terrible war. Powerful stuff, and it seemingly all came from the idealistic activism of their parents. That's you and me. We taught them that anything was possible. Whether we wanted to or not, we taught them to distrust authority, and that it was better to make love than war.
So then, along comes a black man; an eloquent, black, peace-loving man; an inspiring, thoughtful, anti-war man of color; a young, brilliant, successful, African-American man; an eloquent, inspiring, anti-war, multi-racial, brilliant, well-spoken, African-American, peace-loving, successful and unusually gifted man; and what do our kids do? We taught them fairly well, so naturally they listen to his message. And what's his message? Well, it's "change", "end the war", and "we can all work together as Americans". So, they think, 'I love what he’s saying, he must be the guy'. They think, 'He's our MLK, RFK, JFK, and Clean Gene all wrapped up together, and I can't wait to get started on our very own crusade to change America. Mom and Dad will be so excited!' And so, as Democrats (particularly young Democrats) so often do, they fall in love with their guy. The children of the flower-children fall in love with the peace-loving guy who says that we can, 'make nice together, not make war'.
Then he becomes a sensation. Well, at least in the Democratic Party, he becomes a sensation. And our kids tell us excitedly that he will lead our party to a great victory in November. They just know that he will because (insert various mostly illogical reasons) !
Naturally, we think they are crazy. But they're not quite crazy. They're just young and in love with a politician for the first time. So they can't see his faults. And, as is typical for all new lovers, they can't stand it when we point them out. "That's just like you Clinton people," they say, "always so negative!"
Meanwhile, our Hillary campaigns with brilliant plans for their future and their children’s future, repeatedly displaying her customary competence and expertise; but unfortunately, at this early to mid-point in their lives, many of our off-spring have difficulty fully relating to and appreciating such hard-earned competence, so they don't even ask their guy to measure up, and argue that his style is so new and different and better that policy differences don't matter to them. They say he can and will work all that out later with Congress, and he won't listen to any lobbyists. Evidently, we begin to think, we didn't teach them quite well enough.
And now their guy has the lead. He has the momentum. He has the money. He has the media. He even has some very good ideas. But his candidacy still doesn’t inspire us. We worry that he might get nominated and then lose the general election. We worry that he might win the general election, but then fail to implement anything worth the effort it will take to get him elected. We worry that his prime and his time has not yet come. We worry that our kids will become disillusioned with politics. We worry about the future of our country.
Hillary worries about our future too. But she doesn’t just worry; she soldiers on, day by day, campaign stop to campaign stop, debate to debate. And she does so with all the energy and enthusiasm of a much younger person, all the while displaying the confidence and competence we all expect of her. How does she do it, and why does she do it? She can do it because she is already more than ready for day 1 in the White House. Her competence and dedication shines through. And she does it because of her deep love for our country, our people, and our world.
Our children have fallen in love with him.
Our candidate has fallen in love with us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Om-c9IMjw
I only hope that our children’s children will one day be able to appreciatively wear symbolic flowers in their hair and look back on the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 elections and say, “Thanks, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, for coming together and doing the right things for us.”
Is there a best time and/or best day to post at MyDD? I haven't often posted there.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
...but they are one of the few blogs that aren't anti-Hilary. You should get a good reception.
"The Right always knows who its enemy is" Lance Mannion
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/2/22/185712/827
Comments welcome over there also. Especially about Hillary's devotion to America and her plans. Also how cool it would be if she had 8 years followed by 8 of an even more in his prime Obama.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
That's just pretty close to effing brillliant!
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
They are terrific and so is he. It's just that it really makes very little sense to really expect a black liberal with such a short Federal resume and no real executive experience to win big enough in November to actually "change" anything.
I think I understand why they have fallen in love with him. However, they really need to reconsider pushing him so hard in 2008. His prime and his time is yet to come.
And we have a perfectly good candidate named Hillary Clinton who is more than ready for the job now. It makes no sense whatsoever to waste both of them by running him in 2008.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
are grandchildren of older boomers. This is different from our time in that we didn't have a "pied piper" to speak of, we had common issues we cared about like being anti-war, materialism, rights of groups who had lived with repression of various kinds, etc... There was no "teh awesome," not even Bobby Kennedy reached that level. We had other wise people we listened to, usually through music or books we read.
I can appreciate the intense desire of young people to want change. I want change. We all want change. To get change, we have to have a veto proof and fillibuster proof majority in both houses. Hoping for a president to make the changes just won't cut it. Everybody is going to have to get on the same page.
Personally I think we skipped a generation or two of activist youth like we are seeing with the Obama campaign. I think there were a few apathetic generations in there. BUT it's great that a large number of youth are getting motivated. They care about their future. And so do I.
Hey if I had my druthers Dennis Kucinich would be president. I'm a member of the Green party and an environmentalist from way back. I was a hippie too.
I haven't lost much in the way of having hope, being optimistic etc. I think it's a good way to live. I love being inspired by the great works of other people.
Obama has a good important message. I like that he's getting the air time.
His voice is needed...but he is far from the peace, love, and dove that you find with Kucinich. Why didn't the youth rally around him? I have some guesses that mostly have to do with physical characteristics.
Would have vastly preferred to be a Clark Delegate, but the 15% rule eliminated that chance. So, I went with Dennis, who has a huge following here in Boulder, rather than John Kerry, who had an even bigger group of supporters. Of course once Kerry was nominated, I worked hard for him.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
AKA The People's Republic of Boulder. Boulder, home of the CU Buffs, may be the only college town where the students are less liberal than the rest of the population.
I really like Boulder. Thirty miles away is about right.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
I'm a Gen Xer. The apathy and cynicism we are saddled with at times really, in an objective sense, isn't ours. We didn't choose that label, it was assigned by Boomers that just couldn't get over how revolutionary they were, even when they were harassing innocent academics in schools, like E.O. Wilson and others for writing books that didn't fit with popular socialist slogans. Wilson was accused of genocide and physically assaulted more than once, hounded and persecuted professionally for writing 'Sociobiology' that made the rather bland assertion that social behavior has some biological basis. Big Pharma now makes billions proving what truths there are to it.
(Not going there except to say that 9 out of 10 times there IS some kind of change you can make but don't want to or don't know how).
We saw THAT. We saw D&D players being roasted by church leaders. We saw Reagan stand up to the Iranians and win. We saw BMW, Birkenstock and Bottled Water 'hippies' who didn't seem to care for much more than congratulating themselves on how idealist they were and how cynical we were for catching the fallout of 60s and 70s excesses, like gang wars and drug addiction. We saw AIDS. We saw the Soviet Union crack like a mirror and Russian mafia running the show behind the scenes.
You say apathy, I say critical thinking. You gave us more Spotted Owls, we gave you an Internet you could use. You gave us David Bowie, we gave you Duran Duran.
Gen X are survivors. Granted, to merely survive is not enough, but don't make the assumption we occupied the same world, we didn't.
Duran Duran would be played when the females were present. Boys night out? Say goodbye to your eardrums.
:) Just kidding!
Also for the record, I'm no boomer. I'm a buster, so don't any of you hound dogs blame me for any of those rock stars, except maybe a little bit for Elvis.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
...but I post more music onto CCN than anybody, so forgive me if I'm a little tapped out of examples at any given time.
My point was that Gen X refused to radicalize, that has proven to be a kind of unforgivable sin in the minds of a disturbingly large number of Boomers. It's like they constantly complain that we don't sympathize deeply enough with their problems when we are far too busy trying to keep some power with the few numbers that we have.
That's one reason why John Kerry in 2004 was such a terrible mistake, he had been off the radar so long he was a stranger to my generation and didn't represent us. Dean did, he was a technologist, but he was still a bit of an unknown, except for the grassroots he helped to build, that now serves Obama and others so admirably. I rather like Dean, now, but his base seemed to be radicals you couldn't trust to run a two front war, which still was sort of beleivable at the time. We know better now, I'd vote for Dean. At least he responds to criticism positively and stands up for the little guy.
Obama is positive and inspiring without being radical.
That's something you can't buy or fake.
Obama is the real deal and beats hardcase McCain six ways from Sunday. Hillary incurs too many needless casualties.
Clark may support her out of personal loyalty or some genius level character analysis the rest of us don't really understand, but Clark is the real deal, too, and I'm going to be MIGHTY F*CKING DISAPPOINTED if he doesn't get behind Obama this summer when McCain starts to assault his anti-war record. I haven't spent two years on this blog supporting the WesPAC mission come hell or high water to see Clark give me a Clinton or nothing proposition.
Obama will need Clark and men like him. America will.
I know it, you know it, and the General damned well knows it. I mean that. If Clark is going to private life if Clinton doesn't get the nod, I think we have a right to know.
Hey, some of the beef I see is riddled with highly expensive health insurance company administrative fat.
And although his anti-war rhetoric was spot on before he became a Senator, I believe he said that he might have voted for the IWR himself if he had been in the Senate at the time. Is that correct?
And his plan to get public service from students in exchange for a measly $4,000 per year? What is that? Slave wages?
Then there is the matter of his occasional lapses into hyperbole such as comparing Hillary's mandates to requiring homeless people to buy a house. He's perfectly intelligent enough to know that her mandates are planned to be entirely affordable, yet he persists with the fiction that they are something "Harry and Louise" won't be able to afford. How is that being positive and inspiring?
Then there's the matter of his personal lapses into sexist comments. Positive? Inspiring?
Obama is what he is. Sometimes very inspiring to many. Sometimes very insulting to others. For that matter, so are most politicians, including Bill Clinton. And unfortunately for Obama, there are many voters who think McCain beats him six ways to Sunday. I understand that you are greatly enthused by Obama. Fine. Just don't let your strong enthusiasm blind you to the hard realities he will have to face before he can become any sort of effective uniter.
As for Hillary, she's been wrong on some things and right on others. At this point, she's right on everything I care about, and she has everything it takes to be a great President. Obama is not and does not. He is wrong on health care, foreign policy, and the economy, and he simply hasn't had sufficient experience at the Federal level. His campaign pretends to be about you, but it has mostly been about him. He needs to get past that, and I think he will be able to do that sometime in the next eight years. Then, he will be in his prime, and ready to be elected President.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
that $4K would mean the difference between my son having no debt coming out of college or enough debt to pay for a new car - and he has a majority of his tuition and fees paid by scholarships. As someone who has already spent his summers in high school and college volunteering in food kitchens and homeless shelters, my son would probably be the first to sign on.
(I think the term "slave wages" was inappropriate, as well.)
Promising to work in a low wage position for a couple years in an area where teachers, doctors, etc...are needed in return for college aid certainly doesn't hurt any young person. Wasn't it Bill Clinton who established Americorps?
After 9/11 we all wanted to be asked to contribute, to do something. Are you faulting Obama now for doing that asking?
"And his plan to get public service from students in exchange for a measly $4,000 per year? What is that? Slave wages?"
"It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak and one to hear." - Henry David Thoreau
keep saying you're "Undecided," when your posts tell us you are strongly pro-Obama? Just asking.
1984 happened, but the media didn't tell us.
Weather in Chicago is changing for the better, whatever that means.
1984 happened, but the media didn't tell us.
O is offering only $500/yr more than Hillary, for which I understand he is asking for public service after graduation. How can O's blatantly exploitative proposal be considered "inspiring"?
You and/or others may be offended by the short-hand term I used; and I'm sorry if you are; but I really don't get how anyone would prefer an extra $500/yr enough to commit to low-paying public service jobs. For that matter, even though $4,000/year would appeal to those already intending public service jobs, even the full $4,000 is quite a low offer if O really intends to attract more highly qualified young people into public service.
I can remember the 1970s when the government (DOD and DHS) offered free medical school educations in return for 4 years of service. Even that huge figure didn't entice many, and quite a few opted to pay back triple that amount after they graduated from med school, rather than working in a Community Health Center, or in a Military Medical Facility such as Bethesda Naval Hospital.
In sum, $4,000 isn't really likely to appeal to many when they stop and consider the strings O says he will attach. Low-paying public service in exchange for that amount of college help just strikes me as being quite an un-realistic and uninspiring attempt at exploitation.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
Don't you think it's possible for people to be "inspired" to give back something of what they have been given? I guess I think there should be some return on an investment of $20,000 - even if it is only one year of public service.
The Clinton plan is also good - a good topic for a diary I think - for someone planning on going into public service, a minimum amount of debt would enable them to reach their goals without some of the monetary issues that seem to make them leave for private sector jobs.
"It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak and one to hear." - Henry David Thoreau
It's too long a story to tell now, but suffice it to say that I am one of the 60s crowd who in 1969 gave up a high paying and very promising private sector career for a very low-paying public service career. I did not have to do it, and I was also protected from being drafted to serve in Vietnam by virtue of a "critical skills deferment" my local board had issued me without me even applying for it. So, I really didn't have to do it. Really.
It was inspiration that motivated me, not dollars.
At the same time, I have since worked with people who came into the public sector as a way of fulfilling their obligations under various quite generous Federal aid to education programs.
Most of them performed well although I think all of them left government service as soon as they could.
I stayed for over 20 years.
So, you are correct that some people can be inspired to work for low pay. Others are more easily motivated by economic incentives. All I am saying is that O's proposed incentive is not likely to motivate many of the latter, particularly when you compare it to what Hillary is proposing without any strings.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
in some public service job; he has strong feelings about social justice.
"It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak and one to hear." - Henry David Thoreau
Money is not the only or even the best reward for a life well spent.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
What Nick isn't saying is that he was a Public Health Officer, which for all intents and purposes made him in the military. They work at the military pay scale and get all the benefits of being on active duty in the military. Nick retired after 20+ years with full military retirement benefits. It's not a bad way to go. My former brother-in-law retired as an Admiral in the PHS with the title of Assistant Surgeon General.
PHS officers use Navy rank nomenclature, and their uniforms (rarely worn) are Navy uniforms with different insignia on their hats, shoulders, and sleeves.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
but it's not the road to wealth. My pay experience was very similar to Wes's in the Army before he was promoted to General. The PHS is for the most part a pretty extraordinary group, and that's one of its attractions. I can't think of a single PHS Officer I worked with who couldn't have made a lot more money outside the service.
And while there was a long period during and just after the Vietnam War when few PHS officers (as a matter of government policy) wore uniforms when they were dealing mainly with civilians, we all generally wore them when attached to any of the military branches. Today, most PHS officers once again wear them pretty regularly.
I felt justified in joining the PHS during the Vietnam War because I was assured that even if I were to be assigned to any sort of duty in or near a combat zone in SE Asia, I would never be required to carry or fire a weapon. I would just be expected to help save lives. That was good enough for me. I wasn't a conscientious objector, but I would not have been able to fire upon people that I was quite certain we had no good reason to engage.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
For many students that $4000 per year would make a big difference. I deal with college students everyday who would love to have that extra money. And for others the $4000 might be the difference between going to college and not going.
Its also $4000 per year. Since students take four to five years to get their first degree these days that's $16000 to $20000 in return for one year of service. Since many programs of volunteer service, like the Peach Corps, provide a small income to live on its sure not slave wages.
Barry
Are you safer today than you were seven years ago?©
rather have $3,500/year with no strings attached.
See http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14809#comment-285069
If you think any of those students you deal with everyday who would otherwise not consider public service would agree to public service for another $500/month, then you must know something I don't know.
Personally, I think we should at least offer fully paid tuition, room and board, to every student who will commit to public service. I am quite serious. $4,000/mo is a ridiculously low incentive, particularly when you recognize that Hillary would give them all $3,500/mo. And as much as I support public service, I also support public help for everyone who wants a higher education. Sure, most of them will end up in the private sector, but a strong and well-educated private sector is just as much of a positive value for our country as is a strong and well-educated public sector.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
one or both of them propose a return of the National Student Defense Loan, which made it possible for me to get through college. Basically it was an outright loan and for every year that was put into teaching, a year's worth of "payback" was dropped. In other words, if you were teaching, you didn't have to pay the loan back. Worked out pretty slick. It could be expanded to include public service jobs and other such careers.
1984 happened, but the media didn't tell us.
She talks about her 2% interest NDSL quite often now as something she wants brought back.
I had a string of those myself, but stopped accepting them when I became active against the Vietnam War. I really did love my country and our Constitution, but I could not then bring myself to sign the required loyalty oath - which (as I remember it) was an oath to our government, rather than our Constitution. After that, I got lots of private loans, on which I paid anywhere from 6% to 10% after graduation. That was not easy.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
I don't disagree with you on that. But I think the majority of students would be pleased to be offered either the $4000 or the $3500.
We have made some progress in New Jersey in this area. Students here who graduate from high school in the top 25% of their class can attend a county college tuition free. If they graduate from the county college with a 3.0 GPA or better they can go on to a state university tuition free. No strings attached but books, room and board and all those other expenses are not covered. Not perfect, but its a start.
Barry
Are you safer today than you were seven years ago?©
Just allow me to be clear that I think a virtually free college education should be offered in exchange for some commitment to public service. I'm not opposed to a free college education for everyone in principle - I just think we can't really afford that at this point in time. However, I do think Hillary's $3,500 proposal is affordable. I further think that some time in public service is a good thing, although I don't think we should ever mandate it (e.g. return to a draft). That's why I think as soon as we can afford it, we should offer far more than $4,000/yr for those willing to work in the public sector for a while after graduation.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
Right on the leading edge of GenX I think.. born in '71.. and our school administrators nonstop reminded us that we were complete losers. which was nice. :)
But I reiterate.. Duran Duran.. Not my fault in any way.
Have some court-side tickets to Knicks games at Madison Square Garden in March. Any chance you'll be back in NYC?
Know it was inadvertent, but you state that Barack Obama was a Muslim and is now a Christian. You got the second part right, but not the first. If you have any evidence to support your assertion that Obama was ever a Muslim, I'd be willing to look at it. I've read both his books, and David Mendell's 2007 Obama biography.
In “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama describes his mother as secular, but says she had copies of the Bible, the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita in their home.
And this from a Washington Post article:
"Since declaring his candidacy for president in February, Obama, a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, has had to address assertions that he is a Muslim or that he had received training in Islam in Indonesia, where he lived from ages 6 to 10. While his father was an atheist and his mother did not practice religion, Obama's stepfather did occasionally attend services at a mosque there.
Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Muslim, a "Muslim plant" in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected president, he would take the oath of office using a Koran, rather than a Bible, as did Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim in Congress, when he was sworn in earlier this year."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/28/AR2007112802757.html?hpid=topnews
Not to get off topic Gordon, but we went to a Knicks game after Christmas and I almost fell asleep watching them. No kidding. Also didn't like the fans booing Isiah so much either. They sure aren't like the Knicks of Patrick Ewings time eh?
Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
Finally, someone here interested in basketball, Cate.
After paying out $11.5 million, primarily because Isaiah (the Knicks BB coach for those of you not familiar) thought it appropriate to call a female executive a "a black b**ch."
plus his lousy coaching record, I think booing him and the Knicks owners totally appropriate.
Look, the most successful Yankee's coach in modern history was fired last year because he didn't bring home the World Series Pennant.
When New Yorkers play ball, its Hardball.
Not hard to have a championship team every year when your city spends 1.5 times as much money as the next most expensive team. The Padres would win as many pennants if they had as much money to spend. Not all teams enjoy the kind of payroll that the Yankees command.
The team was totally apathetic when I saw them. Not motivated at all. I've seen high school players with more drive and enthusiasm. Maybe Barak should give them a little coaching eh? Hmm...
"1984 happened, but the media didn't tell us."
A couple of months ago, I attended an all-day seminar centered around the meaning of George Orwell's writings today.
If your interest is in George Orwell, I suggest you read, "What Orwell Didn't Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics."
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/11/06/thought_police/
We are the Thought Police
Orwell's Big Brother never showed up. Instead of centralized Iraq war propaganda, we have an America in which the public and the press jointly impose their own controls.
Nov. 6, 2007 | At first glance, the war in Iraq would seem to represent the realization of George Orwell's darkest fears. In "Politics and the English Language," he expressed alarm over how political speech and language, degraded by euphemism, vagueness, and cliché, was used to defend the indefensible, to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable. Three years later, in "1984," Orwell offered an even grimmer vision, one in which an all-powerful Party, working through an all-seeing Ministry of Truth, manipulates and intimidates the public by pelting it with an endless series of distorted and fabricated messages.
synthetic environment SWS (sentient world simulation) wants to match every person on the planet one to one.
...is exceptional in its highlighting the consequences of a mindset that sent us into the middle of Arabia.
It is a disturbing portrayal of the result of our going to Iraq.
Thanks for the link. Now on to an afternoon and evening of college basketball.
About the most amazing NBA game I ever saw was a 7th game in the NBA finals with the Knicks versus the Lakers, I think it was. Willis Reed was injured and could barely walk, and his participation was questionable. He started the game, hit his two first shots, left the game, and the game was over. Game, set, match. These were the days of Walt "Clyde" Frazier who picked up the slack after Reed departed, never to return.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
Edited that out of my diary a while ago before just now reading your post. Before I discovered it was false, I actually thought of it as a positive, but understand now that others might not. You can see more of what I said over at MyDD - http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/2/22/185712/827
And thanks for the ticket offer, but I'm not a basketball fan, which of course is the real reason I don't support Obama in 2008. ;)
I'll be sure to let you know the next time I plan to be in NYC. Come to Boulder and we can go for a hike into the wilds of the People's Republic. You can carry Stan. :)
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
One of my uncles moved to Greeley, Colorado shortly after he returned from World War I -- blind. I have fond memories of our walks in Greeley, the drives (I did the driving) to Denver and Colorado's Black Forest, where he had a cabin, absent running water or electricity.
In re your suggestion: "Come to Boulder and we can go for a hike into the wilds of the People's Republic. You can carry Stan. :)" ----Nick, we all love Stan, and it would be wonderful for the three of us to traipse around G-d's country, but my ability to assist Stan will be limted to opening his beer.
... you can make me one of your patented Bombay gins and tonics or martinis.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
Not all boomers were hippies or antiwar activists, in fact I would suggest it was a small minority of that generation. Of course while there were only 500,000 at Woodstock, at least 8 million will swear they were there.
Case in point. As described in the book "Two days in October", a small group of demonstrators protested the recruitment on campus by Dow chemical over their production of napalm. They got the crap kicked out of them by the pigs. Who was attending the University at the same time? Mr. 5 deferments himself, Dick Cheney and Lynn Cheney. On May 4th, 1970 (my birthday) we had Kent State which was shocking but of course to many "boomers", they got what they deserved even though some of those killed were caught in the crossfire. Yawn, lets move on.
My point is that while there indeed was a "movement" it was made up of a minority of that generation while the rest went about believing in "My country right or wrong" and trying to live the "American dream". Get a car, cruise the drive in, get a good job in a company that will give you a gold watch after 30 years and retire to Florida. Unfortunately the "American dream" is and always has been a lie. We are controlled by the corporate powers that be, not some mythical Horatio Alger scenario.
When I got out of the Army 1970, I vowed that I would not get my hair cut just to remind me of the chickenshit crap I had to put up with while in service. I joined a few anti-war protests and then did what many Vietnam vets did, I went off the grid. When the VFW wouldn't take us (at least here in Oregon) because "it wasn't a real war", you had a feeling of WTF did I go and serve for? This is how we were treated by our country.
I went and lived on a small commune,
raised chickens and organic veggies, smoked a lot of good shit, dropped acid, played the guitar and spent a lot of time fishing and hiking. "Turn on, tune in, drop out." Never regretted a minute. Meanwhile the corporate power structure assimilated those "boomers" that believed in their bullshit.
Maybe that's why this new generation doesn't want a "boomer" as President since nothing has changed with "us" in power. In fact its even worse.
We were warned. "Silent Spring", Three Mile Island, the oil crisis of 1973, President Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter in a sweater, the Japanese import car invasion, Greenpeace and "Save the whales" (well maybe we got that right). Voices crying in the wilderness to a deaf and dumb population content with being raped by the corporate bottom line.
"Money doesn't talk it swears"
Bob Dylan
The myth of the "Boomers" being this enlightened generation that was going to change the world is just that, a myth. As my friend Mike Hastie, a medic who served in Vietnam says, "The reason people don't learn from the past, is because the past was a repetitious lie to begin with."
I was fed that lie from an early age with all the propaganda the Military Industrial Complex could serve me up. God and Country, John Wayne and Audie Murphy, the domino theory, Gulf of Tokin, etc. I was a stupid, naive corporate tool. I wised up to late. Most of our politicians are willing corporate whores who have abrogated their oath of office. Am I a cynic? Bet your bottom dollar. The most I can hope for is that the American people will finally wake the fuck up. Maybe this youth movement will continue past November. I guess that will depend on who the contestants on American Idol will be.
But, I will not stop howling at the moon and against the machine because that is against my nature. As Phil Ochs said,
It is wrong to expect a reward for your struggles. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life.
Me at last year's March 19th antiwar rally.
Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It's gettin kinda long
I could have said it was in my way
But I didn't and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
Cause I feel like I owe it to someone
End of rant.
John 11:35
Anti-war activists such as myself were a tiny minority in 1966, 67, and even 68 - although that was the year our voices finally started to break through.
Where I was in the Bay area of California, peaceful hippies were much more common than the relative few of us who routinely showed up for ant-war events. But hey, lots of them were busy at concerts, love-ins and be-ins, or just dropping out. They knew the war was wrong, and they said so, and they did occasionally show up at the hard-core anti-war demonstrations. But most of them were still pretty apolitical in 66 and 67. And all together they were still just a very small fraction of the young people in our country, most of whom still did buy into the whole American Dream and America - right or wrong thing, as you say. I don't blame them for that. Most of them just hadn't yet been exposed to the full truth about our stupid (and yes) unnecessary war in Vietnam.
Nick Kelly
Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.
When I think with fondness about the 60s and my pride in being in the vanguard of the baby boom (born in 1947), I don't think of the flower children. I think of the civil rights movement, women's liberation and movement to equal rights, changing the voting age from 21 to 18 in the early 70s, and, of course, the music.
I was in college from the fall of 1965 through the winter of 1970-71. But I wasn't exactly in the maelstrom of the anti-war movement. I was in Naval ROTC.
I was a graduate teaching assistant when Kent State happened. I took my French II class outside so we could just rap about what had happened.
Social conscienceness is what I remember about being a Boomer -- a feeling I never lost as I transitioned from "enter the young" to an old fart.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Make America All It Can Be!
You should put this up at MyDD....and hopefully it'll be picked up by Hillary's blog.