Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Conservative 'Hippies' and the New Counterculture



In every society, there are distinct periods of time when it seems the core of that society, the very fabric of it, is torn apart. Most people, if they had to choose a particular era in American history, especially those who lived through it, would say the 1960s was that time. Assassinations, war, and upheaval of societal norms of the day challenged Americans' values, ideals, and views like no other period. Those doing most of that challenging, young people, were looked at as agitators and troublemakers by traditional society, but they saw themselves as nonconformists and even revolutionaries. Traditional society dubbed them the "counter-culture." On Tuesday, former Acting Director of National Intelligence Rick Grenell tweeted that "It's counter-culture to vote for Trump. The elites all want Biden." Could it be that conservatives, those straight-laced church-going folks, could be the new hippies and that a vote for Donald Trump is a vote for the new counterculture? 


I have written about this idea for years. It is not a new one. I first wrote about it in 2018 during that year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). It was hard not to notice throngs of college students and in some cases high school students excited and revved up about conservatism. But even way back when in 2018, it was probably a safe bet that those conservative college students were not advertising their views on college campuses. We know for certain the conservative college student's experience is even worse if he speaks up. 

But what if it is not just college students? What if we as conservatives really are the new hippies, the new counterculture? As a devoted student of the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies, I heard the great El-Rushbo explain many times how liberals, the left, don't really see themselves as liberals or leftists. What they believe is normal, is mainstream. Conservatives are the ones who are the fringe kooks. To them, there is no "left-wing," there is only right-wing. 

The new form of counterculture is a bit different. It does not involve much protesting and demonstrating. But it is getting easier to brand ourselves as the new counterculture. Look around at all of the abnormality the left is trying to convince us is normal. From allowing millions of illegal immigrants to cross our southern border who have no intention of assimilating and becoming Americans to those who are convinced they can change the sex they were born to trying to tell us that it is perfectly normal and family-friendly to have drag queens read to children. The idea is to spread the message that abnormal is normal. When we do protest or demonstrate against that notion, we are the fringe kooks. 


So, what do you have to do to be considered a new hippie, a part of the new conservative counterculture? It seems that the most outward expression of that today would be believing in freedom of speech. In the old days, it was liberals who were the guardians of the First Amendment. Ironically, it was the University of California-Berkeley that is considered the "birthplace of free speech." Not anymore. Try being a conservative speaker on a college campus today. The Hippies of yesteryear might have been all about peace, love, and equality. Those same people now have no love for anyone who does not hold the same views they do, continue to support throwing billions of dollars at the war in Ukraine, and as far as equality, if being a conservative speaker on a college campus isn't enough for you, try being black and conservative. 

Today's conservatives, a.k.a. hippies, come from all walks of life and backgrounds, and we don't always agree on every point, but we can debate the issues. In fact, we like a good debate. Not so with former hippies. They will ramble on about how "diverse" they are, but what they really want is conformity, conformity of thought. Those college conservatives can attest to that.

The new counterculture says it's okay to have faith, whatever that faith might be. It's okay to have a traditional family, a good job where you don't rely on the government, belief and love of country. Patriotism is welcomed. America is not a horrible place. We love everyone and want them to be successful. We want our children to be educated in reading, writing, and arithmetic and that's all. But most of all, we believe in freedom. Pretty amazing that believing in freedom is counterculture. The Hippies of the '60s are now the elites of the 2020s. They do all want Joe Biden, and they are awfully silent when "resistance" comes in the form of conservatism. Conservatives being the new revolutionaries, the new counterculture, what a groovy idea.



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