Somebody Please Make it Stop

I tried LSD only once in my life, back in the early 70s when I was 15.  It - my "acid trip" - wasn't even entirely my fault, exactly.  I remember being at a party, listening to some Led Zeppelin music (I believe the song was "Battle of Evermore"), when somebody gave me a coke.  All of a sudden, thousands of ants started crawling under the doors.  Then they were all over the walls.  Then they were EVERYWHERE.  A raging battle ensued.

"Oh war is the common cry, Pick up your swords and fight.
The sky is filled with good and bad that mortals never know.
Oh, the night is long; the beads of time pass slow,
Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow.
The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath"

I'm not sure how long my "trip" lasted, but I remember waking up inside of a closet, hanging on to a vacuum cleaner. The ants were gone.

Damn, when did I start having flashbacks?

For some reason, I've been thinking a lot about those days as of late.  Maybe it's that whiff of patchouli I sometimes smell at the organic food store.  Or hearing an old Janis Joplin song.  Or seeing some guy with long hair.  It brings back memories of a former life; a life of Birkenstocks, and candlelight vigils, and colorful gauzy India-shirts with bell bottom jeans, and campus protests and crash pads, and hitchhiking everywhere.  

Of course everything that is the same now, is also different in a twisted sort of way  - it's either better, worse, or it has a different name or face attached to it.  For me, instead of the ants, it's an army of termites, invading the Library of Congress and munching away on the Constitution, bit-by-bit.  Giant packs of rats have invaded the halls of the government in Washington, and are spreading filth and disease and bribery money, to any government official they can buy.  "Tricky Dick" Nixon has risen from the dead and has now returned to the White House.  Henry (the Doctor of Death) Kissinger is back - as Secretary of Defense.   Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were both part of Nixon's administration...how did they get back in?

The government is spying again, the Pentagon is lying again, and another poor hapless country is being shown the meaning of democracy with America's special type of "armed enlightenment".  Israel is attacking (-the PLO-) Hezbollah in Lebanon again and  of course there's that ever present threat of (-communists-) terrorists wanting to take away our freedoms.   It's a real strong feeling of déjà vu - we've been here before.

Maybe we deserve this - are the Founding Fathers punishing us?  

I believe it was George Washington who said to be "eternally vigilant" with the fragile new democracy, lest it fall into despotism.  Many of the other Founding Fathers also gave us dire warnings about what would happen if we let the government get out of our control.  We failed them.  We let our guard down, and stopped paying attention.  There were those "more important", more personal things to do, like finishing off college and getting a "normal" 9-to-5 job, a house, a 501K plan and becoming the "respectable" person that our Ozzie & Harriet parents would be proud of.   I myself went off and joined the Army, and became a lot more moderate and complacent in my political views.  The draft was ended. The Cold War was over.  I even remember not voting in several elections, back in the 80s.  No need to worry about what was going on in Washington.  America became obsessed with the O.J Simpson trial and mystery of  JonBenét Ramsey and tragedy of Susan Smith.  The biggest heroes in America became the Movie Stars and the Athletes. Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Michael Jordan. The biggest concern - Who will become the next American Idol?  

Somewhere along the way, the press became a new form Entertainment Weekly and stopped informing us about the real world.  Also along the way, the Congress was bought up by Big Business, and the government started having secret foreign "adventures" and doing things that most Americans don't know anything about.  Like how many Americans know about the US involvement in Chile and Nicaragua and Panama,  Grenada ,  and the shooting down of an unarmed civilian airplane and supporting certain terrorists and certain other leaders , that we later decided we didn't like after all?  How many Americans can even find Iraq on a map?  

So enter George W. Bush and the Neocons.  The humiliation - every time the man speaks.  It's like having to go out in public with a giant wart in the middle of your face.   I personally have to leave the room whenever I hear him speak - it's so embarrassing.  Sometimes I wonder if the Founding Fathers,  sent George to us on purpose - as a terrible slap in the face. They've probably been watching us over the past few decades, as ghosts or apparitions of some sort, thoroughly disgusted with what we've done to their country.   It's almost as if I can hear their voices: "You've become such a selfish, self-indulgent, materialistic, and brainless nation - here is your leader - King of the Fools. You deserve him".  

O Joyous Youthful Anarchy, WHERE ARE YOU?   Will you save us?

The country is seething right now.  We all can feel it.  How many "I'm Disgusted/Outraged/Shocked/ Furious/Humiliated" diaries do we see every day?  The frustration with the government is palpable, and continues to grow, while the politicians in Washington sit on their hands, give themselves pay raises, give their and their corporate "friends" more taxpayer money, and pretend that all is ok in the wonderful land of ignorance.  It's going to happen -  one day, things are gonna blow... like they did back in the 60s.

How it started in the 60s

I was still very young at the time, but I believe it all began sometime around 1963, when a feeling of agitation and restlessness came over the land.  It wasn't because of the war, at least not in the beginning.  The college kids started it, rejecting the nine-to-five "Father Knows Best" idea of the American Dream; pointing out that many people were excluded from that Dream - Blacks, "Chicanos", Native Americans and women.  Then the Vietnam War began to escalate in 1965-67, and so did the draft.  Small protests began on a few college campuses, and then began to grow larger and spread.

It wasn't the normal rebellion-against-authority that most people experience in their teenage years.  This was BIG.  It was a rejection of the Establishment; a revulsion against the hypocrisy and materialism and government paranoia of the time. And of course, there was the War. Pictures of children being burned with napalm.  Thousands of US soldiers returning in bodybags.   Illegal bombings of Laos and Cambodia.  Hundreds, and later thousands of America's youth flooded onto the streets and highways, as if called by something.  It was anarchy, and it was also democracy, at its best.

Where is this generation's youth rebellion?

I have to admit, I'm confused by the lack of action in today's youth.  Perhaps it's because they don't have to worry about being drafted into the war (that's one lesson the Republicans learned from Vietnam).  Or maybe they've been brainwashed by watching TV spin all the time.  Or maybe it's all just too overwhelming, and they don't think they can do anything about it.   Global Warming is coming for them, and Peak Oil, and the Deficit, and all the environmental damage we've left behind. It's so sad - for so many generations, children in America could look forward to having better lives than their parents; now it looks like the standard of living will be getting progressively worse, for our children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.....

•  Tips?

  and a “disclaimer”  Do not take drugs – You will be sorry  - later in your life...

  by Anna M on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 01:01:33 PM PDT

  •  Rolling Stone Magazine

    I believe that the RS was the "flagship" to The Revolution™.

    I wasn't old enough back then to really know, but my sister (the hippie) would be able to fill me in.

    Maybe DKos is today's RS?

    by Heronymous Cowherd on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 01:03:43 PM PDT

    •  Heh, I've read Markos describe himself

      as a more moderate "pragmatist", who doesn't like hippies.  Maybe he doesn't realize (yet) that he's a radical.  Maybe we should take up a collection - buy him some birkenstocks.

      by Anna M on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 01:10:44 PM PDT

    •  I recall RS and its founder Jann Wenner

      ... often being denounced as "hip capitalists" who were co-opting the counterculture. Wenner prided himself on being a tough-minded entrepreneur, not a stoned hippie, and called his company Straight Arrow Publications.

      After the demise of 1970s radicalism and the urban "underground press", RS became known for its political writing.

      MTV originally started out as a kind of video RS, with a green/alternative/counterculture slant. However, this positioning didn't attract enough corporate advertisers, and after a few years MTV Networks Inc. was sold to Viacom, which made it into the purely commercial sewer channel it is today.

      by lotlizard on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 10:11:46 PM PDT

    •  What started it

      Was a change in consciousness fueled by many things, including the literature and poetry of the day (hard to believe, isn't it?), movies, music, working class kids going to college for the first time in large numbers, TV (they really did broadcast some serious and thought-provoking programming in the 50s and early 60s, as well as upsetting footage of racial horrors in the South) and, yes, psychedelic drugs, which I think had a very powerful and mostly positive impact on the era. Everything was being questioned and exploration was everywhere, in every area of endeavor.

      So when the Viet Nam war escalated, everything was in place for a long and varied confrontation with the war machine and all the thinking that supports it.

      At the core of the movement was a very strong streak of anti-materialism and anti-consumerism. To me, overcoming this orientation was one of the most effective ways corporate culture wormed its way back into prominence. If you are addicted to consumer goods, you won't be questioning much, you'll just be shopping and buying into the whole paradigm.

      by barbwire on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 08:36:32 AM PDT

  •  Too Late

    Been Clean for twenty-five years.

    Think acid is bad? That was candy, compared to Whack.

    by Heronymous Cowherd on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 01:04:40 PM PDT

  •  Yeah

    be sure to eliminate caffeine, refined sugar, and alcohol too. While you're at it, don't cross the street because you might be hit by a bus.

    Thanks Nancy.

    by rolandzebub on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 08:13:40 AM PDT

•  This is exactly how I feel ...

  "I personally have to leave the room whenever I hear him speak - it's so embarrassing."

  I cannot bear to see him - such a mixture of shame that so many BOUGHT this load of BS and anger that he represents all of us.  

  Sing it, sister!

  by Bexley Lane on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 01:04:42 PM PDT

•  I can't agree more...

  Thanks for putting how I feel into words.  I was born in the 70's so it is a little different for me but, I have a family now and often worry what kind of America will be left for our children.

  by hrambo16 on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 01:05:50 PM PDT

•  For me, it DID start in ...

  ...1963, (though perhaps I could blame my radical grandfather for indoctrinating me starting a decade earlier). Martin Luther King's speech that year, I read the Port Huron Statement, JFK was killed. The next year I joined Freedom Summer in Mississippi, read The Invisible Government. My best friend enlisted in the Army, was killed within months, and I joined my first antiwar demonstration. I never grew complacent. I was in my most recent antiwar protest last month.

  Why are so many young people today not rebelling in the way that many of us did back then? Perhaps they feel we failed, and, as you say, they can't do anything about it. Perhaps they are, so many of them, too fat and prosperous, though that seems on the road to change.

  At any rate, everybody has to find her own way when it comes to resisting militarism, elitism, inhumanity, greed and eco-destruction. I am sure they will find theirs.

  by Meteor Blades on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 01:19:52 PM PDT

  •  I wouldn't blame them

    if they took away some (or all) of our retirement money to pay for the damage inflicted - like divert Social Security to help pay off the deficit.  

    The youth of today will be the leaders of tomorrow.

    by Anna M on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 01:29:21 PM PDT

  •  I'm here! (nt)

    by righteousbabe on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 03:50:09 PM PDT

    •  Next time, bring a friend. ;) n/t

      by Meteor Blades on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 04:16:19 PM PDT

      •  As the saying went

        "Each one, teach one."

        by ActivistGuy on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 09:16:05 PM PDT

    •  & I am & athena chrome too!

      & I am so very much a Resistance Fighter, as my mother's parents literally were, back in France in 1943.

      No Fascist crosses THIS line!

      by Monique Radevu on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 12:58:01 AM PDT

  •  No draft.

    I still read the Port Huron statement, from time to time, and am a former SDS member myself (I came late to to the table, a few months before the Weatherman and Cointelpro tore the organization apart.)  I think there are two big differences between the 60s and now:  first, the core organization of the anti-war movement was forged in the civil-rights struggle and from various ND groups.  Today there is no similar structure of young hardcore idealists who have practical experience in organization and resistance politics.  Second, while many of the kids I know oppose the war, they don't have a personal stake in the outcome.  In the late 60s and 70s, the draft was an ever-present threat (I remember nights in dorms spent watching Selective Service numbers being drawn).  

    Darksyde888 wrote:

    I think as a young person it is hard to accept that effecting any type of change takes a lot of time and patience. Look how long it took the American public to come around and realize that the Iraq war was a failure. It took over two years for that to happen, when many of us could have told them it would have failed from the get go.

    I laughed when I read that, because it took a hell of a lot longer than two years for the American public to realized that Viet Nam was a failure.  I walked in my first demonstration when I was a junior in high school, and I was almost out of college when Tricky Dick delcared "Peace with Honor" and pulled ground troops out of Nam.  Two years is incredibly quick, especially since there seems to be no significant organized opposition to the war, so that we have to rely on the inherent incompetence of the current crop of boneheads in Washington.

    by scrutinizer on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 08:55:43 PM PDT

    •  Another aspect

      Another aspect that I believe really helped was the music, which provided a myriad of positives including fun (!), political messaging and an emphasis on examining yourself and your beliefs.

      As much as the era was horribly painful, it was also really, really satisfying in terms of community (macro and micro) and just plain hanging out and having a great time. Music helped the medicine go down, so to speak.

      by barbwire on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 08:41:31 AM PDT

•  Somewhere Along the Way

  We definitely have failed, for many generations, to appreciate the nature of the duty our founders said we had to keep their system vital and current.

  Because of this the Founding Fathers' system first destroyed the United States in 1860.

  It wasn't able to cope with the fundamental conflicts in worldview between slavery and freedom, and it couldn't handle the increasing power, speed and reach of the forces of the increasingly industrial economy. The industrial economy brought every remote corner of the republic into collision and competition with every other, nationalizing more and more of the activity of pursuit of happiness than their federal/state/local system could handle. It also sped up interactions beyond the ponderous pace of its deliberative election cycles and checks-and-balances.

  Ever since 4-score-and-7 we've been pasting very fundamental new approaches and systems onto their system without formally incorporating them into the permanent framework.

  It was under Lincoln that the federal government launched its national program of research and education (the Land Grant universities with their later Cooperative Extension outlets in every county of the nation). It's hard to imagine more breathtaking disproof of one of the Founders' most basic premises, that national government couldn't contribute much to the everyday life of regions, localities and individual citizens.

  The New Deal was a radical departure from the document and past practice completely unsupported (in the minds of the right) which to me represents the finest practice of governance in all human history, but nothing about it to my eyes is codified in the Constitution along with the founders' prohibition against teenaged presidents for example.

  Coming to our time, the founders and their system are virtually clueless about the information age's spaces and systems. As I often comment, the modern public square is the virtual space created in corporate mass media, which under the framers' system is purely anti-democratic feudal private property of its owners. Our Constitution protects our public square's few corporate owners against the individual, against the people, against society and against the Enlightenment and democracy.

  They have little more clue about the corporate world.

  The result is that the Constitution is largely AWOL in our world. Look at the behavior of the right. The greatest strength they have against us is that under our system they are free to behave mostly as they are doing. Our system largely does not apply in this world.

  The economy cannot offer a founders' conception of a journalistic press to the whole electorate no matter who operates the media. The individual cannot make innovations and discoveries nor operate a business competitive with mega corporations no matter who the individual is, no matter which party runs the congress.

  And on and on.

  So don't let's beat ourselves up too severely about "our" failure to maintain and evolve the founders's system. There's a good case that this failure predates the Civil War and covers almost all our history.

  We've got nothing in our history save the original Constitutional Convention to give us the first suggestion about how to maintain this system.

  by Gooserock on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 01:37:19 PM PDT

  •  I was just thinking about this last night

    I didn't post the comment I wrote.  But if you look at how long it's sucked to be a Democrat, it's been a while.  It sucked to be a Democrat in the '90s because of Whitewater and Lewinsky.  It sucked to be a Democrat in the '80s because Reagan and his crew dominated so much.  It sucked to be a Democrat in the '70s because Carter was being hammered by the press -- even though in retrospect he was a damn good president.  It sucked to be a Democrat in the '60s because JFK was assasinated, Johnson ramped up the war, the youth turned against the party, and Nixon took over.  It sucked to be a Democrat in the '50s because the Republicans were trying to paint all of us as commie traitors, and it worked with a large portion of Americans.  It sucked to be anyone in the '40s because of the war, and what good is political power if you only get it when the world goes to hell.

    My point is, it always sucks to be a Democrat.  Republicans don't give a shit who they fuck over, so if they are in power, they're happy.  Democrats worry about everyone, so if there is still a hungry person in the world, the power doesn't really satisfy.  But I wouldn't have it any other way, and if things start going our way again, I hope the party can remember all the bad times and keep a nightmare like Bush from happening again.

    by unterhausen on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 01:57:42 PM PDT

    •  We were just as bad in our day.

      Remember Reconstruction.  We used all the tricks the Republicans used to get office, and worse -- there's one account I read of African-Americans coming to town to vote, only to be threatened with cannons and armed gunmen.

      We got into office after pretty much ruining the nation, and we held office because the Republican coalition -- of abolitionists, African-Americans, and women, among others -- fell apart after women were denied the right to vote [1].  And we held office because the ex-Confederate soldiers -- men who pretty much committed treason -- voted for us once they were allowed to vote.

      Don't go off thinking we've always been the victims.  There was a day when the Democrats supported practices that were downright evil -- slavery, lynch mobs, the KKK -- and the Republicans had to flee for their lives.  We were evil in our day, too.  But we got over it, and one day, perhaps, the Republican party will come around back to where it started.

      [1] This wasn't just misogyny.  When the southern states were readmitted to the Union, there was a crucial period of time during which ex-Confederate soldiers (i.e. most white men) weren't allowed to vote.  That mostly left African-Americans -- who almost universally voted Republican.  If women were granted the right to vote, however, the wives of Confederate soldiers would be allowed to vote -- and they would overwhelmingly vote Democratic.

      So there was real pragmatism involved in denying women the right to vote -- it wasn't just because women weren't believed to be good enough.

      by lemming22 on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 03:53:10 PM PDT

      •  you can not

        equate the pre Civil War Democratic Party with the post. Two different animals completely. That party is not our party any more than the Republican party of today is the party of Jefferson or Lincoln. Licolns party was hijacked when he was assasinated by the same ilk that are Republicans today. The labels are just that, labels.

        by fisheye on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 09:37:58 PM PDT

        •  Then let's look at a different Democratic party

          Chicago, 1968, Mayor Daley. Texas, late 40s. Both situations where the party in power pretty much did whatever it wanted and cooked the elections when it could. Does the phrase "Machine Democrat" ring a bell?

          I guess my point is that if the opposition gets to be too weak, the party in power, like today's Republicans, always goes too far. Or something like that.

          by frostyinPA on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 09:49:02 PM PDT

  •  The founding fathers were Anarchists

    for their time, but of course, as our society and government continued to grow and change, the Constitution had to be "tweeked" and adapted.  Their ways may seem "primative" to us now; it makes me wonder what future generations will think of how we run our government now.  Slavery has been abolished since the Constitution was written - Maybe war will be illegal 100 years from now.  I hope so.

    by Anna M on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 02:07:32 PM PDT

  •  it's not so different

    and we did not fail. We overcame. And, we will not fail. We will overcome.

    This diary should remind us why we love America and why we will put this administration behind us for a better future.

    by fisheye on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 10:28:47 PM PDT

•  Bingo

  Where is this generation's youth rebellion?

  I have to admit, I'm confused by the lack of action in today's youth.  Perhaps it's because they don't have to worry about being drafted into the war (that's one lesson the Republicans learned from Vietnam).  Or maybe they've been brainwashed by watching TV spin all the time.  Or maybe it's all just too overwhelming, and they don't think they can do anything about it.

  Bingo.

  We do what we can do- vote, protest, register people to vote, work in campaigns, discuss politics with friends and neighbors, volunteer, etc.-  but it is almost hopelessly overwhelming.

  I think as a young person it is hard to accept that effecting any type of change takes a lot of time and patience. Look how long it took the American public to come around and realize that the Iraq war was a failure. It took over two years for that to happen, when many of us could have told them it would have failed from the get go.

  Aside from things seeming utterly hopeless there is also a sense of frustration and betrayal. Betrayal because your generation (baby boomers) failed to contain the evil of the Bush Administration.

  by Darksyde888 on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 02:21:09 PM PDT

  •  Yes, I think you are right

    I think in the long term "Boomers" will go down in history as having saved ourselves (during the Vietnam era) but failing our children. To be fair, GenerationX and their materialistic ways haven't done a whole lot to help the world either.

    by Anna M on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 02:57:22 PM PDT

    •  Materialism

      I wonder how or from where Gen X learned their materialism?

      by Magnifico on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 09:52:01 PM PDT

      •  No kidding!

        I'm tired of hearing boomers say how the 80's were all about the greedy next generation.  I turned 18 in 1980, and there was nothing to be greedy about, living paycheck to paycheck for the next 17 years.  I read an article somewhere, must have been Utne, stating that the boomers, in spite of their rebellion in the late 60's early 70's will ultimately be known as the consumer generation.

        by Blissing on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 12:19:25 AM PDT

        •  It was the Boomers who became Yuppies

          GenX'ers have nothing to apologize for. Whining about our generation is the typical Boomer stance. They pretend that you can start a revolution from your bedrooom, and ignore all the circumstances that made their "revolution" possible.

          Let's bring back the draft, that might be a start.

          by rolandzebub on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 08:22:06 AM PDT

          •  Broad brush

            I think making judgements like this is using a way too broad brush. The boomers are a massive generation, comprised of several decades of different kinds of humans. There's alot of variety within that category, and lots of myths out there about them, mostly propagated by the very mainstream media we distrust now.

            For instance, it was really a very small percentage of the oldest boomers who were active politically or in the counterculture. Many later joined in on the surface, changing their hair and such, but they weren't really movement people at all.

            The people who were in the movement for the most part remained counterculture in their views and how they lived their lives. However, many who were only peripherally in the movement or not in it at all went on to become yuppies.

            Making broad generalizations just plays into what the media images created about the generation. Having lived the era, I can tell you that most of their depictions and observations were very off the mark.

            by barbwire on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 08:49:13 AM PDT

            •  Well, it wasn't in that post

              But I acknowledge your point in some others (feel free to check my comments). I don't consider Boomers any more fungible than GenX'ers, but I am amused by the whole "why can't they be more like we were" argument. Kids are always trying to be different from their parents.

              by rolandzebub on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 09:31:16 AM PDT

              •  Not a matter

                It's really not a matter of "why can't they be more like we were." It's a matter of our democracy being at stake, horrible military brutalities going on in our name, nothing being done to mitigate environmental disasters and too few seeming to care, especially those who will bear the brunt of the consequences in the future. Blogging is wonderful. I love it. But it isn't activism unless there's some action in real time.

                by barbwire on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 01:02:13 PM PDT

                •  All those things are true

                  Unfortunately, they don't change the fact that the circumstances of our time are entirely different from the 60's. There is no "youth culture." There is no draft. There is no war being shown on TV.

                  The kids these days don't have the confidence or the arrogance of the Boomers. I can only hope we season better than they did. I believe we will.

                  by rolandzebub on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 01:09:02 PM PDT

                  •  I hear you

                    but I don't believe that's a good enough excuse. Are you doing anything actively for any cause? There's much to choose from and being involved can be very satisfying and effective in many ways. You should think about it. If not, you might not have much chance to "season."

                    by barbwire on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 08:20:36 PM PDT

•  As to the younger generation, there's nothing

  like a $20,000 average college debt to start exerting social control at an ever earlier stage.

  by jfdunphy on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 02:53:36 PM PDT

  •  22 G's for me :- (

    One of my professors said the student loans debt was like starting a race with a broken foot. I'm starting to see her point.

    by Darksyde888 on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 08:47:53 PM PDT

    •  the next youth rebelion will be against credit. n

      by fisheye on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 10:58:43 PM PDT

      •  Rebellion against Bankruptcy law, count on it.

        Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

        Our liberty is in serious danger from the various terrorism laws that are in the books or in the works. And our ability to pursue happiness is constricted by a system that consistently punishes the middle class and the poor for trying to get ahead.

        We're punished for seeking a higher education- linked to higher wages- as the government has continually cut grants and loans. Public education, for the most part is a joke and high schools turn out students that are not prepared for college. A major problem in the CSU system is the high number of students in remedial math and english courses. The remedial courses cover material students should have learned in high school, such as: basic algebra, composition and grammar. The demand for these courses puts a strain on the state university system because it is necessary to provide additional classroom space and teachers. And no, immigration is not to blame, I'm talking about native-born Americans, who after 12+ years of primary and secondary schooling have not yet mastered basic subjects that are necessary to pursue a higher education.

        Lastly, our lives are ultimately endangered by a government that does not act to stop the rising health care costs that jeopardize our lives. The rising health care costs have pushed corporations and private businesses to stop offering health coverage to their employees. Some employers employ tricks to stay afloat, such as employing workers for 30 or so hours a week so they wont have to offer benefits. Many young people do not have a choice and must take these jobs out of necessity. As a result, many of the uninsured are deathly afraid of getting seriously ill. Surgery nowadays can cost thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars.

        Considering the above, I think it is safe to say that the government has failed in its mandate to ensure our general welfare and our inalianable rights.

        by Darksyde888 on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 12:22:28 AM PDT

•  A variety of causes for our decline

  I felt I was a bit of an anachronism, born in '55 in NYC, wore my hair long only in the late '60's, did ditch high school for some exciting anti-Vietnam War marches to Bryant Park, attended Columbia College just after the students took over Hamilton Hall (I got there in '73), so all that happened while I was there was streaking on campus, for goodness' sake.  Remember that?  Talk about non-political activity; I played drums in the marching band for the streak on campus.  Believe it or not, though I passed many a joint between tokers at concerts and parties, I've never had a hit myself, let alone anything heavier (not counting alcohol, though I'm not much for that, either).  

  But I also went to a "red diaper baby" summer camp, left my Only Worthy City in the World to go to the rural regions of California to work as a lawyer for the United Farm Workers (in 1982), and am now a union-side labor lawyer and am intensely interested in politics, and married to Congressional candidate Marcy Winograd.  

  But why do we seem more complacent and lethargic?

  1.  TV and shorter attention spans.

  2.  The rise of consumerism to ever more pervasive heights, or should I say the descent to lower depths?

  3.  The increased individual isolationism promoted by computers, Ipods, cellphones, etc.

  4.  9/11

  5.  Less and less critical thinking.

  6.  More access to material goods for more people, and probably more important, the illusion of that access.

  7.  Celebrity culture, coupled with "reality" TV.

  8.  Reaction to the active '60's.

  9.  Rise of the rightwing (admittedly tautological to some degree).

  10. Religious fatalism/determinism.  

  I would second the mention of heavier student debt, but we are also in a period where no one seems to be personally affected by, or willing to sacrifice for, anything.  

  That is why bringing back a truly Democratic draft, as Charlie Rangel proposed, has some appeal, as an attention-getting device, though I'm not in favor of it as a matter of principle.  

  by Budlawman on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 08:52:32 PM PDT

  •  Good analysis

    I also want to comment on the decrease in critical thinking. Personally, I think it can be attributed to the destruction of what used to be called a "liberal education." Everyone had to read and write about ideas, bat them back and forth and learn to think critically. So much of education these days is about technical training, not learning how to think, speak and write. It's a big loss.

    by barbwire on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 08:53:16 AM PDT

•  That's two sloppy big juicy wet recommends today.

  Bit of trivia without a smeblence of a reference to a valid website: In sheer weight on planet Earth - the ants win. (PBS?)

  I wish I still had my Zep albums and a record player. But I'd drop the stylus on Thin Lizzie and watch the woodgrained panels "melt."...

  Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak...

  by SecondComing on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 09:39:59 PM PDT

•  Blame the children

  Where is this generation's youth rebellion?

  I have to admit, I'm confused by the lack of action in today's youth.

  What happened to all that energy and social consciousness that was part of the Vietnam era? Something happened to it. Where was the spirit of the '60s when Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush got elected? These are today's youth — products of the '80s conservative backlash and the explosion in the Christian right churches.

  Rebellion? The children of the '60s, who became parents of the '80s, didn't want rebellious children and they scared their children, cocooned their children, and drummed the spirit from their souls.

  • AIDS.
  • Nukes.
  • The War on Drugs.
  • Greed Is Good.
  • MTV.
  • Iran-Contra.
  • Just Say No.
  • Operation Desert Storm.

  These were the messages in the '80s and early '90s. Blame the children, sure they are apathetic, sure they are uninvolved. They learned it from their parents in the '80s and '90s.

  by Magnifico on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 09:46:44 PM PDT

•  Excellent post

  An excellent post with excellent comments.  If it werent past my bedtime, I'd write a lot more about how much I relate to much of it.  zzzzzzzzzz

  by AmyVVV on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 10:25:42 PM PDT

•  Radio + pop music encouraged social change

  in the 60s and 70s. Somewhere along the line since then, protest songs and social criticism became "uncool"?

  Pop music split up into a whole bunch of different genres and subcultures? Divide and rule?

  by lotlizard on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 10:32:01 PM PDT

  •  Self esteem gap

    the Seventies where a time of reckoning the Vietnam War. I think America got tired of feeling bad about itself and wanted to feel good, make money and dance.

    On the drug topic. The transition to cocain from psychidelics has a seat in the complex of understanding political mindset and cultural attitudes of our youth.

    The combination narcisist, drunk and cokehead has to be the most revulsive personality I've ever encountered. See George W. Bush.

    by fisheye on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 10:57:24 PM PDT

•  Children, children? where are the parents? n/t

  by fisheye on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 10:34:41 PM PDT

•  The rebellion has begun . . .

  The World Can't Wait       Revolt USA

  Where is this generation's youth rebellion?

  I have to admit, I'm confused by the lack of action in today's youth.  Perhaps it's because they don't have to worry about being drafted into the war (that's one lesson the Republicans learned from Vietnam).  Or maybe they've been brainwashed by watching TV spin all the time.  Or maybe it's all just too overwhelming, and they don't think they can do anything about it.

  PRESS RELEASE

  "Central Oregon Action Now Week"  Events slated for October 5-8.

  Your politics is not about elections and political parties, it is your vision of how you want your world to be, your optimal reality.  If you do not act on your politics, someone else's politics will be your reality.  "Action Now Week" is all about energizing Central Oregon to start believing that we do have the power to create the reality we believe in.  Progressive organizations and people of conscience are encouraged to volunteer and participate in a diverse schedule of events, speakers, movies and classes.  Currently scheduled:  Democracy Basics (How our elected government works.),  Cyber Power (The emergence of the internet community as a political force.)  The Real News (How to find what's really going on via the internet.)  9/11 Conspiracy Theory (Myth or Fact),   Peace and Resistance Parade, Nightly Premier Music Events coordinated by David Bowers,  Human Dignity Coalition Annual Drag Show (Domino Room), Bush Must Go Fashion Show (Sponsored by local retailers) , Paddle Bush Out (Kayak Race) and more events and speakers to be listed.

  "Action Now Week" coincides with the October 5th date set by The World Can't Wait for a mass mobilization of the country to force Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and other major players out of power.

  by Calvin Revolt USA on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 11:39:21 PM PDT

•  The 1960's were a betrayal of the Left

  Ask one simple question:
  Who is the core of the Republican base?

  The answer:
  It is the Children of the 1960's.  How is this possible you might ask!

  The so called rebels, the people who broke convention, and protested and told the man to 'F' off are now the GOP base.  You see them in the TV ads, taking Viagra, and planning retirements where they wind surf and raise horses.  The music of that era sells cars now.  Jimi Hendrix is a brand of Vodka. And what did we get out of the anti-Vietnam protests of 1968 except Richard Nixon, and his understudies, Rumsfeld and Cheney.

  The spirit of the 1960's endured, but not in a positive way.  The philosophy remains, but it has been stripped of its moral imperitive.  The ideas of social experimentation, about exploring your own vision of life and following a personal path of discovery have morphed into a consumerist nightmare.  People have been liberated from the bonds that tie our society together.  Now the way to explore your own personal vision of life is detached from any consequences or shame.  You are free to buy a Hummer without guilt, you need not care about others as long as your personal experience is satisfying. A gated community is your paradise, a utopian commune freed of the cares of the world.  The world exists for experiencing personal pleasure.  The cares of the greater world take second place to the ecstasy of the moment.  Insight is drawn from internal visions, hallucinations and self reflection.

  I shake my head every time I see a peace sign.  I never protest.  Why?  Because I refuse to be associated with the philosophy of the 1960's.  I believe in our society as a collective.  I believe in the ties that bind us together, that they are more than outmoded social convention.  I believe in respect for authority, I have respect for the people who serve this country, who have honor, and who place the good of us all above their personal welfare and immediate cares in life.  I believe that the rights of the individual are balanced by responsibility to our society as a whole.  I believe in both truth and justice, and that they ought to be vigorously protected.

  Most of all I believe in Liberty, and this is how I define it:

  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

  You want a revolution, I want a restoration.

  by pjv on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 12:40:39 AM PDT

  •  To be fair, the Boomers were always of two minds

    We have to remember that for every long haired freak there were at least two Nixonites. The hippies on TV were only the tip of their demographic. The rest were volunteering for Vietnam and watching John Wayne movies. Those were the silent majority assholes who jumped on the counter-revolutionary bandwagon. They won the battle - here's to hoping the hippies eventually win the war.

    We're still fighting the fight that started then. The conservatives want to roll it all back. Only now are we starting to fight back effectively.

    And it's going to take all of us, not just one generation or the other, to win.

    by rolandzebub on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 08:30:37 AM PDT

  •  Again

    Again this is using too broad a brush. I personally know that almost every single person I knew who was genuinely active in politics and the counterculture in that era went on to live their lives in an anti-material, service-oriented way. Many worked for nonprofits, environmental organizations or just rather menial jobs and lived simply.

    As I said before, there were many in the boomer generation who remained as closed minded and Republican while in college and beyond as anyone now. You see them now doing what Republicans do.

    It seems to be that the majority of any and all generations are followers who live life as the authorities tell them to live it. However, there are opinionmakers and risk takers in any and all generations who do other things. The difference is there were more forces nurturing and encouraging this kernal of the rebellious than there are now. Instead there are many strong forces programming people against thinking for themselves and questioning authority.

    by barbwire on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 08:59:32 AM PDT

    •  Thats true...

      ...the real hippies stayed true to their beliefs, but the fair weather hippies, who were in it for the thrills were the large mass of people.  Also, on the flip side of the counter culture movement was a conservative backlash.  The fair weather hippies who were in it to party have gone over to the conservatives.

      Anyway, the cutlure of disrespect and rebellion against social order is now the property of the GOP.  Today, peace activists are safely neutered.  It isn't the left calling for the overthrow of the established social order, its the right.  They are teh ones getting in peoples faces, they are the threat to law and order.

      by pjv on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 02:45:31 PM PDT

      •  I saw a few old hippies

        when I lived briefly in Fairbanks, Alaska, and also when I returned to Boulder, Colorado for a visit.  I wonder though, if it's a political belief or more a social "statement" of sorts. Perhaps they really have stayed true to their ideals.  

        I think a lot of us changed and "evolved" through different political ideas over the years.  I know I went through a libertarian "phase", and even went a bit moderate for awhile when I joined the army. But through it all I still hung on to a few basic hippie ideas - environmentalism, a cynicism and suspicion of politicians and government ("the man"), and a lot of the music and art.  Now I feel like I've come around full circle - I'm starting to get rid of many of the material possessions and junk I've acquired over the years, and I'm starting to get back into yoga and organic foods and recycling things.

        by Anna M on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 03:32:01 PM PDT

        •  I know...

          I think a lot of us changed and "evolved" through different political ideas over the years.  I know I went through a libertarian "phase", and even went a bit moderate for awhile when I joined the army

          Thats what I mean, at some point there was a gradual shift, especially in white males of that generation.  Maybe it was part Reagan Democrat, part testosterone, part something else that started to move them.  Right now they are at their apex in terms of earnings, which might have something to do with it.  We will see how they change once they start to retire.  Anyway, I think they are a fickle demographic.

          by pjv on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 11:07:04 AM PDT

•  Paraphrasing Tina Turner this time

  What's age got to do with it?

  The Founding Fathers weren't 'youth'. And, yes, we've failed them, terribly. When Americans of ALL ages take to the streets - call (and obey) general strikes - march by the millions on Washington - THAT is our only hope.

  cdn

  by grndrush on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 05:07:50 AM PDT

•  It's Still There

  Anna, that fire that was burning in me from the time of the Revolution 40 years ago is still there at age 54. I'm confident that it will never disappear.

  My motivation now is not to create a just and compassionate society for me, it's too late for that and I and my peers sold out and fucked things up royally. I do have a responsibility to my grandsons, however.

  When they ask me the inevitable question: "Papa, you knew that they were stealing the country blind and destroying democracy. Why didn't you do something to stop them?", I want to have a plausible answer.

  by Toes on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 05:18:53 AM PDT

•  Where are the mentors for the youth?

  I have to admit, I'm confused by the lack of action in today's youth.  Perhaps it's because they don't have to worry about being drafted into the war (that's one lesson the Republicans learned from Vietnam).  Or maybe they've been brainwashed by watching TV spin all the time.  Or maybe it's all just too overwhelming, and they don't think they can do anything about it.

  Who are the parents of these youth of which you speak? I don't see the boomers out there with picket signs either. Reach out to them and show them the way.

  by meowmissy on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 06:19:04 AM PDT

  •  Interesting

    It's interesting that in our DFA Meetup group, most of the members are boomers or older. And believe me, they are out there protesting and doing all kinds of other activism as well. We've tried to get younger people here interested, but they seem too busy text messaging lol.

    by barbwire on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 09:02:07 AM PDT

    •  Involve them

      Text messaging is a good tool that allows you to communicate with campaign volunteers or group members.

      You can do the following with text messaging:

      1. get the word out about a protest, campaign event/fundraiser. (Bush makes a surprise visit to Anytown, USA and you want to set up a "welcoming committee" to meet him at the hotel where he's holding the latest $2,000 dollar a plate fundraiser. Invite people house parties where they can meet with Candidate X, etc. you get the idea)

      2. remind people to register to vote (let them know of the deadline, what documents they need to register and where they can register.

      by Darksyde888 on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 11:36:04 AM PDT

      •  Not What I Meant

        I'm well aware of text messaging. But first the people have to be involved so we know where to contact them...

        I was using it as an example of the seeming addictions to technology for technology's sake that seem to dominate the attention of way too many these days. Entertainment has replaced info in too many cases.

        by barbwire on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 01:04:51 PM PDT

    •  they showed up on immigration

      There were a lot of young people out protesting on the issue of immigration and they used social networking websites, text messaging and other technologies to get the word out.

      Maybe boomers just don't know how to communicate with them.

      by meowmissy on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 12:31:03 PM PDT

      •  Sure

        That's true. But I'm talking about sustained interest in doing the work that makes change, not one-time attendance at a big event. Attention spans are short these days, you have to admit.

        by barbwire on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 01:06:33 PM PDT

•  'Where's this generation's youth rebellion?'

  Having spent a fair amount of time studying at least some parts- you're not going to like the answers I have to bring back to you.

  Places like this- Teen Mania Ministries and the TMM Battlecry campaign.

  Many of today's kids (not a derogatory term at all) are finding a place, a tribe, friends, and yes, a social movement of sorts, and "purpose" (that adults have designed for them), in subsets of the Biblical American movement (those seeking to recreate American into a Biblical America- an American wherein all governmental and social action is dictated by thier particular interpretation of the bible).

  They are finding identity there- in along with relgious supremacy, dualism, and targeting of others.

  And it's not pretty.

  It's damn sad.

  And they're being aimed explicitly at 'taking over' via ongoing use of their own (usually non-leathal) version of militarism and war metaphor (until of course, it ceases to be metaphor.)

  Yes, there are positive steps too- Queer youth, despite facing down many hardships, still have it better than folks my age did.

  But in terms of who is actually getting those internships up on capital hill that are the stepping stones towards next-gen leadership, among other places? Yeah, these days it's usually not the Queer kids.

  You think this is bad, wait 'til you see what's over the horizon.

  by stormcoming on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 06:25:29 AM PDT

•  nice diary

  I'm glad it got rescued so I got a chance to see it. I wrote a response, maybe it can help you understand why my generation is... well, ya know.

  http://www.dailykos.com/...

  We're trying, but we've got a tough set of obstacles.

  by VoteHarder on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 09:30:46 PM PDT