I _THOUGHT_ the 1960s were "history"

[WhoWantsToBeOccupied]

Now, I realize the '60s never ended. Our nation's present rulers are still fighting against the War on Poverty, the Voting Rights Act, the Peace Movement, etc.

I watched an excellent two-hour documentary on Martin Luther King, Jr. last night and heard how J. Edgar Hoover wiretapped King everywhere then sent incriminating personal information to him to try to silence him. Instead, his wife opened the package. Watched another documentary on the murders of JFK, MLK, and RFK.

I naively thought this was "history." But if you colorize those documentaries, it's 2004. The only differences: there are now more of "us," so "they" have had to ratchet up the insidiousness and shamelessness of their tactics and their control over the media and vote-"counting."

[naryaquid]

1. You got it!

[FULL_METAL_HAT]

2. Amen Brother! ........................ n/t

[RandomKoolzip]

3. Also, inextricably tied-in with this is the economic reality of today.

In the 60's, one could feed a family of four with a single full-time job, which increased the chances that one would have the free time to contemplate one's existence, and extrapolate theories on how to make life on earth better for the majority of people.

These days, a family of four is lucky to get fed and clothed on three full-time adult salaries plus little Johnny's part-time gig at some retail outlet at the mall...and thus ALL of our free time is bought and paid for...when that little window of truly free time appears magically to us on the weekends, inevitably we go shopping instead of contemplating the meaning of life and devising some way of improving it...because doing the latter would lead to another 1960's happening.

[TacticalPeek]

9. O so true.

Not quite the progression I then envisioned.

And speaking of visions, there are several '60s futurists with whom I'd dearly love to have a little chat. :P

[hilster]

4. the '60s never ended

I completely agree. It feels like this pulsating wave, or the telltale heart that has been stuck beneath the floorboards and now is beating so loud it can't be ignored.

[bobweaver]

5. The whole "Repub. revolution" is the ruling class' reaction to the massive

social changes of the 1960s, they saw it as a threat to their entrenched power over the U.S. and have been systematically fortifying themselves against it.... and this is the result, they now control all 3 branches of the fed. govt. and the media, and the electoral process itself

[housewolf]

7. Yes, it's called the "backlash movement"

It's what the Limbaughs and Coulters and their ilk continue to rant and rave about. You'll hear them talk about "movement conservatives" or "the backlash" and that's what it's about - it's a reaction to the expanded freedoms brought in throughout the 60's.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. As a veteran of the 60s culture wars,

I couldn't agree with you more.

[elizm]

8. You are so right..

I was in high school (in a RED state) in the 60s and didn't understand fully what was going on until I went away to college in 1970. Last Thursday when I went to DC for the protest, I had the same thought...this is the same fight..it never ended. So I guess I will finish adulthood the same way I entered it...fighting the Good Fight. Where's Bob Dylan??? We need a Bob Dylan!

[housewolf]

12. You are so right!

And a Joan Baez. And others who can lead through music and the arts.

[housewolf]

10. The biggest difference between then and now

is that it was the youth who demanded the changes in the 1960's. It was the youth behind the leadership of great men like MLK, JFK, RFK and others that brought in the expansions in liberties and awareness during the 1960's.

Where are they today? is the question I keep asking. I look at pictures of rallies and marches and I mostly see adults and old hippies protesting and marching.

We need the youth, we need their groundswell and energy to usher in the changes needed today. It was heartening to hear that more came out and voted in 2004 and were active in the electoral process... but things like the Soc Sec changes and other issues on the table today are going to affect them the most, they need to become involved in the process.

[against all enemies]

11. Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz - still have hardons for the sixties.

Trying to prove Viet Nam was a fluke, we can WIN this one.

[Stepup2]

13. The arts and artists

need to find many ways to speak directly to youth today. The 60's had fewer competing messages and mediums to contend with.

Young people are just passionate as the youth of the 60's; they are surrounded with a clatter unimaginable in the 60s'.

[WHAT]

14. Operation Plymoth Rock = Operation Plymoth Barracuda...

Think about it...

'64 t0 '74, 2004 to 2014?

They seem to be copying it but I don't think it's going to work with the desired outcome. They seem to be sucking-out ideas instead of creating them.

All I can say is good luck to the young people, this is not what your parents wanted for you.