DIE BABY BOOMERS DIE!!!!

[Pryderi]

Not really. But, where are all the ex-hippies from the '60s? Did they all become yuppies and join the Republican party? Aren't there any former hippies in power that remained true to their beliefs?

How did they go from rebels to republicans?

[Imagine My Surprise]

1. A good question for the likes of David Horowitz

[endarkenment]

16. He wasn't a hippie

he was a shithead back then and he remains a shithead today. Plus ca change....

[Desertrose]

2. Geez...nice thread title....

:eyes:

Of course there are still many of us old true to our belief types around....but I am also surprised how many of my generation " turned to the dark side...."

[wtmusic]

3. Look man, there's no money in protest

"These peace-buildin’, tree-huggin’ traders wanna save the world, as long as it's not a BUMMER for their OIL-EXPLORATION IPO's! It’s free love with a 10% commission! FAR OUT!!!"

[expatriot]

4. Evidently, a lion's share of DUers are over 40 (60%!) according to a non

scientific poll of mine that currently has over 360 votes

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=3368734&mesg_id=3368734

[tnlefty]

22. I just responded to your poll and the 45-49 number increased!

Still liberal, and molding 3 younguns to think for themselves! Funny, when they think they reject republican bs.

[Solly Mack]

5. "DIE BABY BOOMERS DIE" sounds like a slogan to save SS

If all us Baby Boomers would just die....social security could be saved.

I know you didn't mean it that way...but I can see the right wing using it that way.

[lastliberalintexas]

43. LOL- that was actually what I though this thread was about

:shrug:

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. No facts to back up my theory here

but it seems people get more conservative and introvert as they get older. Maybe it's family responsibilities and stresses, career paths, the things that come with 'growing up' (like paying taxes), or a combination of all of these. But it seems they start looking inward over time.

At least until they have the empty nest and are fotunate enough to have grandchildren around them. Then, it's back to thinking in a more extroverted view of the world. They worry about the world for their grandkids.

JMHO.

[Ernesto]

53. I used to be "Meathead"........ Now I'm "Archie".

Still a screaming pinko commie in real life though!

[lectrobyte]

7. I don't understand your question -- there are lots of people who

remained true to their beliefs. What makes you think all the hippies are now republicans?

[LiberalEsto]

8. Still a hippie at 53

and a yippie at heart...

:hippie:

[endarkenment]

13. where the fuck is abbie?

Oh shit he offed himself.

[livetohike]

9. Not all Baby Boomers were hippies, nor did they share

any of the same beliefs. Maybe we were a minority :shrug:. I know that's what I thought when Reagan won his first term.

Some of us are "still keeping on" though :-).

[ChickMagic]

10. Well, there's me for starters

I have to work, obviously, but I work in academia. I'm 51 and still have my long hippy hair and wear jeans nearly every day. My notepad in my purse has a big honking peace symbol on it. I still wear peace symbol necklaces and earrings.

I sure as heck ain't no republican!!!! JUst last night, hubby and I went for our walk and put little Bushler flags in dog poo.

[Pryderi]

17. JUst last night, hubby and I went for our walk and put little Bushler flag

hahahahaa...glad you stayed true to yourself. ;)

[Dora]

11. My FIL used to be a Democrat

My husband tells me that his dad was a Kennedy supporter, and that he wept when MLK was assassinated.

Today he's a Clinton-bashing, NRA-dogma-spouting, anti "death tax" provincial yahoo with an airhorn on his Ford F-bazillion50 dually towing a fifth-wheel trailer, faithfully upgraded to the next size up the trailer chain every two years.

Husband has no idea why he switched. Maybe I'll ask him on our visit next month.

Sigh.

[doodadem]

12. Idealism died

Maybe that's what needs to happen here--start a new hippie/peace movement among the young. Think about it...where are the huge crowds of war protesters flashing peace signs? The big Woodstock parties? The era where brotherly love could cure all?
I was in junior high when all this was going on, but had hippie aspirations. At the risk of sounding unbearably old, I don't see kids now caring about anything other than their Ipods and cable TV.

[endarkenment]

14. we've had huge antiwar demonstrations

only you wouldn't know it 'cause they get buried on the inside of the newz and don't make the tellie at all.

[wtmusic]

25. Idealism is alive and well

If you haven't been to a war protest lately, you'll see an awful lot of hippies who never got close to the 60's

[doodadem]

46. We went to the one organized by PeaceFresno in March

It was a quiet little affair. Their major speakers canceled out. We left after about an hour when it started to rain, and just became too depressing.
I did get a good bumper sticker though--"Quagmire Accomplished".

[sinkingfeeling]

15. I was never a real hippie, but I haven't changed my views...still

vote Dem, still believe in Zero Population, still love the Peace Corp, and still love to craft items. However, I do agree, that many became yuppies and went GOP (believing the lie that they too would be in the upper 1%).

[Warpy]

18. We got hit in the 70s by double digit inflation, double digit

unemployment, followed by double digit interest rates. Our pensions have been looted as we've been pink slipped and gone from bloodless corporation to bloodless corporation. We've been shut out of the good life. Those of us who had kids managed to avoid the awful things our parents did to us, but we came up with new things to do to our kids. We've gotten used to being scapegoated for everything that's wrong with the economy, blamed for our own unemployment, blamed for the OPEC induced inflation of the 70s because we were greedy enough to want enough money to live on, and now blamed for the (fictional) demise of social security.

Don't forget that the boomers really represent two groups. The first is that 1946-1954 cohort, and they're the ones who took to the streets and embarrassed the country out of Vietnam. The second is that 1955-1964 cohort, the ones who missed the fun of the mid 60s, got stuck with disco, and turned to materialism as they entered their earning years in the 80s.

We're still out here. We're battered. We're tired. Our bodies hurt. But we're still LEFT and proud of the fact that we've resisted the pull of fashion and crass materialism that has swelled the ranks of the GOP.

[annabanana]

52. (Hi Warpy)

:hi: I hear you...

[Crankie Avalon]

19. I guess, sometimes...

...being young and able to look at things in a fresh way makes it easier to care about the world and all the other people in it. It's easier to vote your hopes.

Sometimes people have a hard time getting older--their lives didn't turn out quite the way they dreamed they would, they feel like they got burned by the larger world, bitterness set in, and they got set in their ways and can only see things in that one, limited sort of way. Hope fades and cynicism becomes entrenched. Then, it becomes almost impossinble to vote anything but your resentments.

I'm guessing, anyway. I'm 37 and still don't feel beaten by life yet.

[Pryderi]

21. I've gone from republican to liberal as I've gotten older....

For exactly the same reasons you mention. "burned by the larger world", and my life didn't turn out the way I dreamt.

I realized which party really looks out for, "the little guy". But now, the Dems of 2000+ have become more like the republicans of the 1980s.

[Crankie Avalon]

31. By trying to refashion themselves into a more business-friendly party...

...in the 90s (DLC, Clinton and his free trade agreements, plus his welfare reform, etc.), the Democrats narrowed the perceived difference between them and the Republicans on economic terms, which effectively took economic issues of the table as a way for the two parties to be differentiated.

So, "the little guy" settled for basing his vote on things like gay marriage and his outrage at the celebrities and "beautiful people" he thinks are mocking him, rather than on the issues that actually affect his life's chances. And on those more frivolous, emotional, lurid, outrage "issues," the Democrats are nowhere near a match for the Republicans.

[slackmaster]

20. I'm 47 and just as liberal on most social issues as ever

My fiscal policies have shifted toward conservative. Public funds must be used in a responsible and transparent manner. Throwing more money at problems is not always the best way to fix them. Being a taxpayer, owning property, and raising a family can change a person's attitude about taxation.

I believe more strongly than ever that criminalization should be reserved for malum in se acts, not victimless crimes. That's how I felt at age 17.

I feel that life experience has made me more accepting of the views of others with whom I disagree. I still don't understand those I refer to as "flat Earthers" - e.g. those who deny the reality of biological evolution or who insist that a fertilized human egg's right to live overrides that of a woman not to go through with an unplanned pregnancy. I've learned to generally keep quiet and let them have their say, then laugh about it later.

[expatriot]

24. I didn't know liberals supported the irresponsible use of tax dollars...

and non-transperacy in their accounting. If anything, I think fiscal liberals are more about open information in their accounting of government expenditures... nor do we advocate just "throwing money problems," rather we realize that if you are going to undertake a project, you better have the resources to carry it out successfully or otherwise your setting yourself up for failure.

[slackmaster]

32. I've never said they did

Please go back and carefully re-read my post.

People who don't advocate responsible fiscal policies are just irresponsible. I've never equated liberalism with that.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

41. Yeah but that Libertarian mindset is exactly why San Diego burned

The county and the city fought over who was responsible for paying for their water dropping helicopter. They let the lease lapse and when the fires hit in October, it was one month after the lease lapsed. All this in the name of fiscal responsibility.

[slackmaster]

44. That was not what I think of as responsible fiscal policy

Clearly it was a fuckup, but it took a lot more than that to cause the 2003 fires, including:

- Land-use policy that allowed islands of development in wilderness areas,

- Failure to regulate and enforce fire breaks around developments,

- Nature itself. The fire cycle is a fact of life here in SoCal, as are landslides.

[MadHound]

23. Hellooo! Stop yelling, pissing and moaning.

And while you're at it, why in the hell are you waiting for the Boomers to show you the way? Go out and get active yourself, hmmm.

The Boomers grew up, got jobs, got careers, got kids, settled down, and many don't have the time to get out and get in a protest. One of the greatest gifts that youth have is time, time to get involved with causes, time to devote to matters that are time consuming, like stopping a war. When you're working seventy hours a week, saving like mad for retirement, raising a couple of kids, etc. etc. time becomes a precious commodity that you never have enough of. Geez, when you're young, for the most part you've got time, especially during the summer to get out and protest.

Then again, there is one's social standing and security to think of. When you're young and out in the streets, you will suffer little or no lasting reprecussions if you're busted at a protest. However when you are older, moving up the ladder professionally, politically, and socially, you've got some serious shit to lose if you get busted. Job, career, place in community, all of this is a lot to put on the line by getting out in the streets.

And yes, some of the old hippies have become born again Neo-Cons, there's no denying that. But then again, many, if not the majority of the Boomers' kids were brought up Neo-Con. Much like the Boomers' rebellion against all things conservative during their youth, many of the Boomers' kids are rebelling against all things hippy by becoming front line warriors for the Neo-Cons. Reagan babies, Gen Xers, GenYers, whatever, many of today's youth have become greedy, self-centered knee jerk conservatives. It is truly amazing, and rather frightening at the same time, watching minds so young closing down at such a young age.

But since you have noticed, there are still many old Boomers and Hippies at the forefront of the protest movement. I'm out there with my old group, Mid Mo Peaceworks every Saturday that I can make, and damn, it is always like old home week, seeing people that I hadn't seen since we protested GWI back in the early ninties, or no nukes back in the eighties, or the Vietnam War in the early seventies. These people, all of us, just keep on going and going and going. Yes, we're joined by new blood, and that is always good to see. But it seems, at least from where I'm standing, that the core of the protest movement is that old guard of Hippies and Boomers that have been out in the streets since the days of Vietnam. We're older and greyer, but we're still out there, loud and proud and pissed as ever.

But why are you waiting on us? C'mon, we're not your parents anymore. You folks are all grown up now, you don't need us to hold your hand. If you can't find a protest movement to join locally, make your own! That's what we had to do back in the day, and we had to build it from the ground up, with few prior examples, and no social acceptance. You've at least got the precedence and groundwork that we've left you, so it should be easier. So stop whining and moaning and waiting for your elders. Get off your ass and go do for your own.

[Pryderi]

26. Baby boomers should be in positions of power in gov't, and I don't

see many "hippies" leading the country. Most of them are like Bush, or support Bush.

BTW, I'm 44 not some young kid.

[Warpy]

27. You're in the cohort that most supports Bush

which is the cohort born 1955-1970.

[Bridget Burke]

28. Most real "Hippies" were not on the right career track ....

To achieve political power.

The ones only in it to get chicks (or date cute bandboys) got into coke & learned they needed more money. So they cut their hair & got better jobs--went to law school, got their MBA's, considered politics. Or they OD'd.

Many "real" hippies are holding jobs, supporting kids/older relatives, voting & trying to help things out when they've got time. They're social workers, cooks, carpenters or programmers. (Except for the few who are still getting their trust fund checks.)

Not every "Boomer" became a hippie. Each hippie expressed differing proportions of hedonism & political activism. (Except for the murderous speedfreaks.)

If your memories of the past are that damaged, you ought to do some reading.

[MadHound]

36. LOL friend, then technically you're a boomer yourself,

Since the boomer cutoff date is for being born around '63 at the latest. I'm 44 also, which is why I responded, sorry to call you a kid, but from your OP, you did sound like a kid. Of course at our age, being called a kid could be a compliment. Anyway, like I said earlier, I'm still seeing many of the old hippies out and active in my area. These are people I started protesting with when I was truly a child, at the age of nine. Yes, there are many boomers who went to the dark side, but many more are still out there fighting the good fight. And this is in a red state friend, in redneck country. If that is the case here, I'm betting it is the same elsewhere.

As for not getting into government, many did. But the trouble is that when you start getting into politics, you start getting corrupted by politics. Even the best of us start to stink after a few turns in office. So many of the old boomers simply stayed away, and many decided that there are other ways they can contribute besides government office.

So are you out on the streets yourself? If not, why not. After all, you're technically a boomer too:evilgrin:

[Tansy_Gold]

49. Boosh is a baby boomer himself

There are a lot of boomers who shifted to the right, and they took power.

There are a lot of boomers still on the left or even who have shifted to the left.

Remember, the "hippies" were never a political party, had little party apparatus, and were effectively excluded from power by the Establishment.

[Pryderi]

29. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend so many people.

I'll shut up now.

[MamaBear]

37. No offense taken here.

I'm 55, was in college in the late 60s; MLK was assassinated on my 18th birthday.

The movement was never as big as it looked on TV. Lots of people dressed freaky for concerts or rallies and then went back to their more conservative styles for classes. Most of us never lived on communes -- many of us because we couldn't afford the buy-in.

And a lot of people got fed up during the Iran Hostage crisis. The 70s were brutal, between Watergate, the oil crisis, the Hostage situation.

Then it was Morning in America, and a lot of beat up people gave up doing the right but difficult thing for the nostalgia and false hope of the Reagan era.

It was a provocative thread title but a reasonable question imo.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

30. I'm still here

I'm not a Republican. I'm not even respectable, although there are those who think I am, but appearances can be deceiving.

Strange things happen as you get older - you don't have the same passion for things that you did as a youth, primarily because your priorities develop and change: family takes up a lot of time and energy, as do professional and personal matters.

It's awfully hard to hold onto the beliefs of your youth when the world demands more realistic, more concrete thinking and acting. Yet, I have a college friend who still gets up early every Sunday morning to go to the courthouse in his Michigan town, where a group has protested the Iraq invasion since it began, and I am so proud of him for doing that. Me, I write checks.

It's the role of the youth now to do the things that we did, and I hope they're as good at it as we were. After all, we ended the American war in Vietnam.

As for your assertion that we went from rebels to Republicans, you have to understand that we rebelled against nothing: we just decided to do it our way, and everyone was welcome to come along; we were inclusive, not exclusive. And, if you think all those people who voted for John Kerry weren't people like me, you're not counting right.

We write the checks now. It's up to your generation to try to match what we did.

Get busy.

[Pryderi]

33. I think it will take the re-instituting the Draft for activism to take off

I think the protest that had the biggest impact on the Vietnam war was when mothers joined Vietnam Vets on the march on Washington in 1971.

Nixon's "Silent Majority" started turning against him....

[OldLeftieLawyer]

47. I agree, absolutely

People stay complacent until their asses are in danger of being thrown in the fire.

Anti-draft groups are starting to make noise. There's a big article in the Washington Post Metro section this morning about a woman giving classes in how to get conscientious objector status in the event of the draft being brought back.

Never in my life did I think I'd see this bullshit all over again.........

[KharmaTrain]

34. Very, Very Well Stated! OldLeftie

I'm almost 50 and am one who is waiting to see how this generation reacts to the challenges they face in light of what our generation did.

When my kids tell my I'm getting older, I remind them I'm getting more experienced. Life's experiences have made me both stronger and wiser and now able to focus my attentions and resources where they are most effective.

In the 60's and 70's, the only resources we had were our energy and time...we had plenty of both. That's what filled the National Mall with one million of us in 1971 and was shown with our POW bracelts and other activities. We had a free pess and a firm belief in our convictions. Many of us still do, but now it's tempered with decades of reality and the ability to "pick your spot".

Yep, we write the checks...and I'm ready to hit the streets, but the Don Quixote days are for those who need to chase a few windmills to get a good taste of what life is about.

Cheers!

[OldLeftieLawyer]

48. Cheers back atcha, friend

I've got a few years on you, but, you know, we're gonna be great consultants when the next revolution comes ............... :hippie:

[Adelante]

35. Die, yourself nt

[Lowell]

38. Not all boomers were hippies

in fact many of us were more beat than hip. It was not a conductive lifestyle for upward mobility. Some of us are still beat. And successful without going over to the dark side.

[Zorra]

39. Hippies? Who the hell do you think has been fighting to keep republicans

from destroying America and the planet for the last 40 years?

Reagan "Democrats"? The DLC? Henry Kissinger?

I know a whole lot of hard core old "hippies" that never sold out, and they may very well be a big part of the reason that we still have any semblance of democracy left in the US, and a planet that can still sustain life. These folks kick ass and have been an inspiration to me personally.

Most of the organizations like Greenpeace, Code Pink, etc. were begun by veterans of the fight against corporate polluters and global war profiteers. People that have kept this fight alive and helped carry it through generations.

DEJA VU (ALL OVER AGAIN)

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio
Did you try to read the writing on the wall
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before
It's like Deja Vu all over again

Day by day I hear the voices rising
Started with a whisper like it did before
Day by day we count the dead and dying
Ship the bodies home while the networks all keep score

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio
Could your eyes believe the writing on the wall
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before
It's like Deja Vu all over again

One by one I see the old ghosts rising
Stumblin' 'cross Big Muddy
Where the light gets dim
Day after day another Momma's crying
She's lost her precious child
To a war that has no end

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio
Did you stop to read the writing at The Wall
Did that voice inside you say
I've seen this all before
It's like Deja Vu all over again
It's like Deja Vu all over again

John Fogerty
©2004 Cody River Music / ASCAP

[Generic Other]

40. Some of us put on suits and went underground

:hide:

[Shoeempress]

42. I'm a late Boomer and hubby was an early boomer. We both have

responsible jobs, work hard, donate regularly to liberal causes, are very politically active, and are way left liberals and becoming more so everyday. Hubby was an organizer for the anti-war movement in the 60's for the colleges in the state he went to college in. Spent all last summer virtually ignoring our jobs campaigning for Kerry and protesting. Not all of us allegedly left the movement. So really the question should be what are you doing? (No offense meant)

[Johonny]

45. Clearly too

much smoking grass and having free love. They forgot to goto class and gets sum dat edumacation.

I don't buy the having childern and getting older make you more conservative. Because the Neocons aren't conservative. Who wants their child to go off and die a war of aggression? Who wants their kids to not be able to retire? Who wants their kids to live in a world where they can't afford school, health care, a home...

[Blue_In_AK]

50. HEY!!! Who you calling a Republican????

:hippie:

[SoCalDem]

51. Life is a relay race... We carried the baton...for a long time

The baton has been passed, and unfortunately most of the batons are being used to prop windows open..or something:shrug:..

and

Babyboomers have been busy working their tails off so that Granny & Gramps could have all those SS raises they have been getting for 40 years or so.. we have also been 'supporting' kids, well into their 20's ....."helping" them with downpayments for this and that, babysitting their kids because they cannot afford daycare...and basically scratching and hanging on by our fingernails, since we have 6-10 years left, to try and get ourselves ready for the 65+ years..

We're 'kinda busy'..so, go look for that baton we passed to YOU, dust it off,and get busy..

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

54. "Young wolves, show us YOUR teeth."

John Steinbeck said that to young Russian writers back in the early '60s when they were moribund and quiet in the face of Soviet tyranny.

I was born in 1944, lived through the dead '50s, joined the marines, refused to extend my enlistment to kill people in Vietnam. Joined the civilrights/anti-war movement as soon as I got out. Got chased by cops looking to fracture my skull for daring to "peacably assemble and petition". Broke the law by being a "draft counselor".

Nothing special in any of that. There were many that did much more and risked more. Prison, beatings, loss of employment, rejection by their family, etc.

We scared the hell out of the establishment enough for them to kill and imprison many of us. We won many battles but lost the war. America is still the corrupt "super-power" preying on the weak.

So, young wolves, show us YOUR teeth.

[Igel]

55. Most hippies were late teens or early 20s

at some point between, oh, 1966 to 1970. Most hippies were born 1945-1955, I'd guess. And they weren't a majority of boomers, or evenly spread throughout the country: they congregated in certain cities or colleges. They were usually students, or unemployed. Hard to be a free-floating love-child and hold down a steady, responsibility-filled job. Possible, but hard.

I was born in '59. Boomer, but too late to be a hippie. Hippie-dom had a dark underbelly, there seemed to be no reason for it since the country seemed to have resolved numerous problems, and had others that hippies had nothing to speak on.

Many hippies had moved from political to social activism (where their hearts always were, mostly), or into academia--no neat little unifying theme, there. Many had gotten fiscally responsible: kids and wives do that to you. Many suddenly understood their parents when they developed an outgrowth of teenage kids.

The rest seemed to move to Eugene, Oregon. ;-)