To borrow a term from the hippies' 1960s vernacular, "flashback" 40-50 years and take a look at liberals' ideologies and how those ideologies have changed since the 1960s:
The United States in the 1960s was marked by tremendous social upheaval. Beginning in the early-1950s, black Americans staged widespread protests demanding equal rights. Monumental legislation allowing African-Americans to sit at the same lunch counter as Caucasians was passed in 1964. The 1960s also brought us the war in Viet Nam, the Sexual Revolution and the free love that it brought, marijuana and LSD, and groundbreaking rock music which reflected the aforementioned social changes.
One of the catch-phrases of the 1960s was, "Don't trust anyone over thirty (years of age)." Distrust of "the establishment" was widespread during this period of time and massive demonstrations, many protesting the war, were commonplace. America closed out the decade of the 1960s with the rock music festival known as Woodstock. Woodstock represented the pinnacle of the counter-culture. Free-love and drug use were widespread as hippies indulged in an orgy - both figuratively and literally - of drugs, sex, and rock 'n' roll.
The distrust of the older generation paralleled widespread hatred of the government. One popular 60s rock anthem warned youth that if they, "...step out of line, the man (will) come and take you away," (Buffalo Springfield's song, For What It's Worth).
Fast forward to the second decade of the 21st century. Now, it seems, that the aging liberal hippies have done an about-face. The left no longer distrusts the government; they now love it and, in a manner of speaking, seem to almost worship it. Something has changed. The same hippies - who once espoused their right to ingest whatever substance they wanted without "the man" telling them that they couldn't - now seem to welcome the government telling them how to live their lives. No longer do the hippies want the government to leave them alone; they relish the government regulating everything from the food that they eat, to the kind of car they can drive, to the kind of light bulbs they can and cannot use, and, most surprisingly, what kind of health insurance they MUST carry.
Ironically, the government throughout the 1960s, was controlled mostly by liberals. Conservatives in government were the minority as proven by the crushing defeat of Republican Barry Goldwater by Democrat Lyndon Johnson in the presidential elections of 1964.
Now, in 2012, the same liberals that once detested being told how to live their lives (in The Animals' song, It's My Life, Eric Burdon proclaims, "It's my life and I'll do what I want"), now espouse a government telling, not just them, how to live their lives, but telling EVERYONE how they should live their lives. When the US was involved militarily in Viet Nam, protests were everywhere - many violent. The US has now been fighting in Afghanistan for over ten years, but barely a peep is heard from liberals.
Amazingly, the hippies of the 1960s, who were so adamant in their "leave me alone" message of the time, now welcome "the man's" intrusion into their lives. Bob Dylan's song, Subterranean Homesick Blues, contains the following line: "Johnny's in the basement mixing up the medicine; I'm on the pavement thinkin' about the government."
Now, instead of fearing the government, most liberals are beating the pavement actually CHEERING the government.
James Sharp is a middle-aged, middle-class, middle-management salesman who believes in secure borders and fighting our enemies with a strong military. He also believes in limited government, free markets, and unlimited opportunity and personal liberties for all citizens of the U.S.
