The Resistance is Futile: The Decline and Fall of the Hippie Boomers

Trump’s Second One hundred days have come and gone, and he is riding through the rough patches with better skill and ease. He has instituted the tariff schedules to force other countries to trade freely and fairly. He has secured our border, building the wall, deporting illegal aliens, and charging their judicial and political enablers with aiding and abetting. Deep State secrets are getting revealed, and a sense of American pride is resurfacing.

The more working-class, culturally conservative Baby Boomers are voting for Trump

Inflation is down, and the cost of eggs, gas, and other goods is going down. Energy production is up, and a real effort to cut the waste, fraud, and excess of our bloated federal government is in full swing.

And how is the left responding? “Hands off!” is the new theme of the Resistance, and they have been resisting all over. They are resisting progress and restoration. Why?

I surveyed the big protests in my backyard for insight.

I live in a fairly sleepy, moderate suburb, Torrance, California, in the South Bay section of Los Angeles County. One of the ten largest cities, we still embrace a small hometown feel. Residents call city council members directly, and usually they will know your name (and will answer you even if you didn’t vote for them). Torrance started as an industrial hub, with an oil refinery still standing despite green fanatics trying to shut it down.

The city enjoyed huge inbound migration in the 1960s, turning isolated lots into a thriving suburb. Great weather, a strong engineering corridor, manufacturing, affordable homes (at the time), and you have a Baby Boomer bonanza. Why this background? Because it’s Baby Boomers that made Torrance boom, and it’s this generational gap that fosters the current Resistance. Trump won only 27% of the South Bay vote in 2016. His numbers improved to 38% in 2024, still lackluster. I still marvel that I saw a Romney sign in someone’s window a little while back! I knocked on doors for a school board candidate, and one of the residents told me that she couldn’t stand the Tea Party.

The more working-class, culturally conservative Baby Boomers are voting for Trump. They were the young ones who rebelled for a little while, then realized that rebellion is not real life, got jobs, raised families, and provided for themselves. Most of them don’t live in Torrance anymore.

Then you have the liberals (many from wealthy families) who grew old but never grew up

Then you have the liberals (many from wealthy families) who grew old but never grew up. They still want to fight “the man,” and they look at every form of discrimination as another civil rights battle to justify themselves and their sense of outrage. They were hippies then, but had the money to be stupid, and they are liberal now. They view Trump’s restoration of law and order as tyranny. I call them the Hippie Boomers, and they are populating the main protests against Trump in Los Angeles. Like their age, this resistance gives an odor as old and ossified as themselves.

The first week of April, 2025, the Hippie Boomers amassed in large numbers—10,000, according to one estimate—lining up on the main street outside of Torrance City Hall. They raged against Trump, Musk, and tyranny, the oligarchy, an installed kingdom, etc.

When I visited the first protest, I was stunned by the number of old people. This is the revolution? It looked staid and sad, with no sense of itself. They were angry because times are changing and “Orange Man Bad.” The signs this year look like the protests from ten years ago.

They are rallying for illegal aliens (including those who kill Americans), and they want the government to keep spending. They talk about protecting “civil rights,” including allowing confused men to invade women’s sports and spaces.

Their hatred of Trump and Musk’s wealth is disturbing, since many of them are also wealthy. The radicals of the 1970s are now in their 70s, and their protests come off as totally establishment. Seeing all these senior citizens not just clamoring to keep the free stuff from the government, they also showcase all kinds of vulgarity and profanity on their signs. SAD! If the elders in our society act like this, then it’s no wonder our country has been in decline. I have been to two similar protests in Torrance. The same lack of energy, minus the large numbers, was present.

In the beginning, the hippies wanted to bring down the government. Now, the Hippie Boomers live comfortably off the government

Later that month, I attended a town hall at my alma mater Torrance High School (where American Hero Lou Zamperini graduated). Rep. Maxine Waters—old, frayed, frail, and afraid--sounded off with the same “Our Democracy is in Danger” blatherskite. Like the outside protests, the audience was filled with old people: clamoring to keep their social security; begging for more diversity, equity, and inclusion, fearful of Trump’s so-called dictatorial tendencies. They hyperventilated the whole time about spending cuts, too.

In the beginning, the hippies wanted to bring down the government. Now, the Hippie Boomers live comfortably off the government. Their rebellion rings hollow and burned out. Even Waters couldn’t understand the questions from the audience, and a staffer had to guide her through the program. The “Hands Off” Resistance can’t see straight, and half of them are ready for the nursing home. Peace, Love, Harmony, and tie-dye T-shirts have given way to Social Security and Velcro loafers. And lots of anger.

Thankfully, the Hippie Boomers’ days are numbered, though. Trump, also a Boomer, wants to see America boom with prosperity and opportunity once again. The younger generations are getting with the program, and other ethnic groups are lining up with MAGA. Trump has the energy of a Millennial, the growing support of Gen Z, and governors like an Alpha. He has surrounded himself with self-reliant, committed Generation X types who are taking care of business, looking for a new dynamic, a restored golden age.

A revolution of restoration is upon the United States, and the Hippie Boomers of yesterday can only complain like old fogies on a front porch. What a sad ending for one of America’s most consequential generations.

Arthur Christopher Schaper is a teacher-turned-writer on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A life-long Southern California resident, Arthur currently lives in Torrance.

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