both a curse and a blessing /1962-1972

It always makes me chuckle. When the conservatives blame the hippies for the counter culture that has ruined American family values. The hippies were nothing but a straw man . Let us look at some of the events the hippies were not part of .

1. The assassination of JFK, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy .

2. The race riots in American ghettos and forced busing

3. The war in Vietnam and draft riots .

The hippies were dope-smoking , tie-dye wearing , bead-trading Gypsies with no political power because they refused to vote. What was really going on?

1962-1972 was a blessing in the fact that the average American enjoyed a standard of living unparalleled in history. For me it was cars and music. There has never been such a diverse and creative period for cars and music . It was in this ten year period that so much great stuff happened. It also was the period of national tragedy, the country was coming apart at the seams. There was a real fear the government would collapse .

The military industrial complex was had just finished in Korea and was looking to keep the war machine going in Vietnam. Lyndon B Johnson like Geo. Bush Jr. was - committed to a war that could never be won for the same reason, so the military corporate machine could keep making record profits .

We gave away our electronics industry in the 1960s to the Japanese because the American electronic industry was and still is making so much money doing Dept. of Defense work .

Richard Nixon in 1974 abolished the draft which put a stop to the the military industrial complex creating wars and drafting young men to die for their profits and for his efforts at change he was impeached and disgraced.

Fast forward to Bill Clinton - he tried to cut defense spending, calling it the peace dividend. He wanted to spend the money to improve education and universal health . For his efforts, he was impeached and disgraced. Like rust - the military industrial complex never sleeps .

So 1962-1972 was at once a wonderful euphoric 10 years , but at the same time there were national tragedies occurring with a frightening speed and intensity . It is no surprise drugs were so popular .

Which brings us to Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton. I know Republican conservatives hate Hillary Clinton with a passion that is beyond belief and I always wonder why . Hillary is so locked into the Washington power structure that she is not going to really change much. She is certainly not going to challenge the military industrial complex. Every president since Bobby Kennedy was assasinated has been a shill for the military industrial complex. They all knew which side of the bread the butter was on .

Barak Obama is a different story. He has a destiny that is undeniable. He wants to really change our bought and paid for form of government . I fear for Mr. Obama. If he elected the next president of the United States, will he share the same fate as the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King ?