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2008 Campaign
Family Security Matters does not stand behind or endorse any candidate for president (or any other public office). However, as the President is also Commander-in-Chief and is responsible for setting national security policy, we will be publishing a variety of articles on both the Republican and Democrat candidates for President during this election year. As always, the opinions of our Contributing Editors are their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Family Security Matters.
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August 6, 2008
Exclusive: The Summer of Love, Version 2008
Four decades have passed since the Summer of Love, where American society came face to face with a counterculture revolution whose effects are still felt today. I was all of seven in those days, and my idea of a revolution was having a different cereal in the morning or not getting to watch my favorite cartoon. That is the way it is for most kids growing up. Their “revolutions” are pretty much personal, fairly subjective and nowhere near as dramatic as what happened in San Francisco that summer long ago. History tells us that our society changed permanently that summer. Hindsight and common sense reminds us that not all of that change was good.
Don’t get me wrong - revolutionary ideas and attitudes can be positive things, but only when they are based on sound, moral and rational goals, motives and aspirations. There is no guarantee that the status quo at any given time will be the best path for this or any society, but that does not give carte blanche license for any half-baked revolution or movement to claim the right path themselves. In fact, it is in times of social and political desperation and frustration that we must be most vigilant against persuasive prophets with entourages of fawning fools, for the lonely suitor is most vulnerable to jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
So we find ourselves, four decades later, with a new summer of love, circa 2008. Instead of San Francisco, we have San Francisco values. Rather than flower children, we have environmental radicals who will soon demand the right to marry tulips. Instead of civil rights activists, we have opportunistic ego-maniacs who selectively sprinkle racial discord to flavor their path to self-promotion. The hippie subculture of sex, drugs and self-serve spirituality has become the mainstream philosophy of the day, although much more sophisticated, subtle and indirect in some cases.
The media’s fawning attention of the hippie subculture has likewise been replaced by the present media’s equally fawning adoration of its anointed guru, Barack Obama. Those are the three faces of this 2008 version of the summer of love: revolution, a guru, and his fawning groupie media and supporters.
“The first duty of a Revolutionary is to get away with it. - Abbie Hoffman
Who better to frame this new revolution than that radical voice from the past, Abbie Hoffman? Hoffman’s words have never been more accurate than they are today, where we are witnessing a relatively inexperienced, highly controversial, often inaccurate, frequently hypocritical, chronically whining and maddeningly evasive junior senator from Illinois march toward the Oval Office as if it had been deigned his destiny.
The mere fact that he has gotten “away with it” this far is testament to some sort of societal delusion, intoxication or hypnosis. If he falls short of his ultimate goal, we should be concerned about how close he came to reaching it despite his foibles. If he reaches that goal, we should be concerned for ourselves, our children and our nation.
“Once you get the right angle, the details aren’t that important. - Abbie Hoffman
We all know full well that politics and celebrity have become largely a product of marketing. Politicians and celebrities are presented like laptops in the American marketplace of popularity and acceptance. Image and spin rule the day over substance and facts. Enter Obama, with his fabricated fiction of suave sophistication and GQ image concealing a deer in the headlights interior. McCain’s celebrity ad hit the nail on the head: this is People magazine meets politics. We are sold an image of Obama the rock star next to one of the Obamas as the typical American family, and mindless consumers of ideas are buying the image. Sure, the typical American family boasts two Ivy League educated parents. Of course, the family next door has radical associations and often scolds America like Marxists. Never mind the flubs regarding typical Americans and oil consumption conservation. Forget about the missed visits to wounded soldiers in Iraq. Ignore the associations with every radical short of Ché Guevara. Wink at his wife’s admitted lack of pride in her country. This is selling combs to bald people, and the bald people are buying two combs.
“A modern revolutionary group heads for the television station.” - Abbie Hoffman
If the marketing of Senator Obama is not enough to make you ill, then surely the media’s fawning adoration of him will.
To read how German reporter Judith Bonesky practically repeated her puberty while being in Obama’s presence is as embarrassing a bit of pseudo-journalism as one will ever read.
While Bonesky’s salivating adulation is as obvious as it gets, let’s not forget that so-called professional and objective journalists like Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams and Chris Matthews sound just as effusive in their praise of their favorite candidate. Yes, the groupies chasing after the rock bands have now been replaced by groupie media fawning behind Barack Obama, hoping to be hit by his sweat, touch his foot or at least hear him speak.
Abbie Hoffman once remarked “I was probably the only revolutionary referred to as cute.” I guess that distinction no longer belongs to Mr. Hoffman.
“Free speech means the right to shout theatre in a crowded fire.” - Abbie Hoffman
Liberals define free speech as their freedom to speak what they please, how they please and when they please. Speech coming from anyone else is either defined as ignorant, intolerant, hateful or dangerous. Control what is and is not proper speech and you control what people think, feel and want. Thus we see that Barack Obama, the anointed one, is not marching toward the Oval Office as much as being carried there by his media servants, complete with parades and an orchestra. Conversely, anything John McCain says is either ignored or twisted into the latest example of immature, divisive, racist ramblings by an evil Republican.
Conclusion
Thirty years ago a counterculture movement took hold of our society. It was built on throwing everything upside down and defining things in a different way. It looked at America’s past with a suspicious and cynical eye, finding fault in what made it great, manipulating on what made it fallible and arrogantly presenting its view as the enlightened path that would take America to new heights.
As often happens, history has told us that some of what this subculture proposed was useful. However, that history has also reminded us of how much revolution without morality, without sincere love of one’s nation and without common sense can do as much harm as good. Change for the sake of change is mindless. Racial barriers for the sake of race are ignorant, but using race as a justification for qualification is just as wrong.
As for the kind of mentality that is fueling this new summer of love, we can once again look to the words of Abbie Hoffman, who represented the kind of radicalism that always threatens our doors.
“We were young, self-righteous, reckless, hypocritical, brave, silly, headstrong and scared half to death…”
Whether we will leave the fate and future of this great nation in the hands of fawning fools, adoring journalists and mindless groupies is up to us. As for being scared half to death, we all should wait until November.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Gabriel Garnica, Esq., is a college professor who holds a law degree from New York University. Write him at gbgmyarticles@yahoo.com.
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