The Left is Losing Because The 60's Have Failed

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The Left is Losing Because The 60's Have Failed

Was protesting Vietnam their only win?

Alden Olmsted

Jun 16, 2025

Transcript

On yesterday’s Morning Wire podcast, Cygnal polling group founder Brent Buchanan lays out the recent polling for Democrats’ lack of likability and general disarray - especially troubling for Democratƒ plans to swing the pendulum leftward in ‘28.

Making 90% of your messaging anti-Trump will do that.

And look — it has nothing to do with my own feelings for or against Trump - I said the same to my conservative mother and step dad when the Obama pushback was all Fox News had to say every hour of every day.

“Sure Obama is more arrogant than I’d hoped but c’mon you think Paul Ryan is the answer?” - I said with a chuckle.

I appreciate Brent’s take and I of course defer to his professional polling (apparently Cygnal is rated pretty well from the brief research I did), but I’d like to broaden our view and go back.

To the Sixties.

That glorious decade of pastel fashion and kodachrome-colored metallic auto paint graduating from black and white right before our eyes.

Pleasantville but even better.

For short attention-span readers here’s my winning list for the greatness of the Sixties:

Bob Dylan & The Beatles
Muscle cars & their gorgeous colors
The Moon Landing
Icons of Cool like Steve McQueen & Paul Newman
Women’s hair and fashion

I’m biased I know - and here’s my beloved ‘66 Chrysler as proof:

I could go on but why?

I only wanted to set the stage for the pushback from possible readers who think I’m just another Boomer hater or hippie-downer Gen-Xer.

Not even close.

Hippieisms

I found a decent list of Hippy-Boomer policies - ie. ‘demands’ from Roosevelt Island journalist David Stone* that I think are pretty accurate so let’s use them as our measuring stick.

David’s piece is called ‘15 Ways Hippies (Boomers) Changed Society’ - with the implication that those changes are for the better.

*I am not singling out David or suggesting any fault with his writing - hippy policy failures are unrelated to decent journalism.

Here we go, starting with the only win up front:

The Vietnam War.
Hippies protested to end the war in Vietnam and they were right on! Good for you hippie boomers.
Hippies championed civil rights and racial equality.
So they say, but boomer leaders like Barack Obama and Hollywood angry libs like Rob Reiner have made today’s America more polarized and divided than ever. They’ve stained the legacy of MLK by attaching civil rights to anyone and everyone, forcing victimhood as the highest saintly attainment, the recent removal of affirmative action in college admissions may be the nail in the coffin.
The Hippie movement emphasized peace and love, which helped to reduce violence and aggression in society.
There may have been a grain of true hope of peace and love by Lennon and Ono in their Montreal bed in, but as we’ve seen in the past 10-15 years, the folks who don’t want to share their town or their Hamilton play with those they disagree with aren’t stodgy conservatives - they’re boomers and hippies. Just google Neil Young and Spotify for more examples.
The hippie movement gave birth to the environmental movement, as people began to see the negative effects of pollution and consumerism.
My goodness this might be the easiest to debunk of all - the coming ice age fear of the 70’s and over population morphed into corporatized selling of the “green lie” — from hybrid vehicle battery hypocrisy - including their egregious toxicity, to the recent shutting down of Ivanpah - the biggest solar plant in the U.S. that is unproductive and guilty of 6,000 + chopped up birds annually, to the wind farms on the New England coast adding to the increase in whale deaths.
Hippies championed gender equality, helping to break down barriers that had been in place for centuries.
And now there’s a generation of kids confused about their sexuality for no reason. If you don’t believe the majority of Americans (yes even 70% of Democrats) opposed to gender transition surgeries on minors, witness elitist Annette Benning, recently saying the quiet part out loud:
Hippies championed alternative lifestyles, which eventually led to a more tolerant and open society.
Alternative lifestyles — you mean communes? See #11.
Hippie music introduced a new sound to the world, influencing musicians for decades to come.
Uh, no. Much as I love a good Mamas and Papas tune in my playlist, Hippies just commandeered folk and then added 9-minute drivel songs that are unlistenable now unless one ingests the exact same psychedelics the songwriter was one when he or she wrote it.
(Hippies are now 1 for 7 with the All-Star break coming up soon).
Hippies believed in sexual liberation, which helped to break down traditional views about sex and gender.
I won’t debase myself with mentioning her name, but you’re likely aware of the recent Only Fans model who claimed to have had sex with over 1,000 men in a single day. She’s British and so is O.F. but given that we’ve produced Hugh Hefner and Larry Flynt I wager we’re equally responsible, and it’s just the latest proof that the “sexual liberation” movement has not offered liberation or freedom but rather objectification and slavery.
Hippies embraced creativity and individuality, promoting self-expression in all forms.
I want to support this one but again the fruit is the proof of failure. The heart of searching for one’s own pleasures and individuality above all else - aka anti-Mother Theresa-ism - has led to its’ obvious end — nihilism. Toxic individuality and selfishness are being soundly rejected by the current generation - just witness the ‘return to church’ stories coming out this year. And between covid lockdowns and political gaslighting who can blame them? They seek meaning, purpose, and truth. The older the better.
The hippie movement gave rise to the feminist movement, as women fought for their rights and equality.
Similar to #8, feminism may have produced long-overdue equal pay but its’ failings are barely worth the wealth - and are now clear to everyone with a podcast - yes even leftists like Bari Weiss are trumpeting the lie that motherhood and child rearing were ever downplayed. In short, women are unhappy in historic numbers, the single liberal women are the most so, and feminism has (ironically) failed women the most.
Hippies championed alternative lifestyles and self-sufficient communities, which helped to inspire the back-to-the-land movement.
Communes? Who didn’t love the idea of a commune - I know Charles Manson did. But much like socialism or polygamy the reality is simply not congruent with the dream.
The hippie movement led to a growing acceptance of psychedelic drugs, which sparked further research into the potential benefits of psychedelics.
As if we needed any more proof of drug failings - the death this week of 60’s California surf sound Brian Wilson, with his openness about the negative effects of drugs on his brain function — should be all the young generation needs to hear.
Hippies preached the importance of personal growth and self-awareness, which has helped to shape the modern mindfulness movement.
Again, self-centeredness does not lead to a better society. Period. Just ask Mother Theresa.
The hippie movement showed that large-scale social change is possible when people come together and stand up for their beliefs.
Umm possibly, but sadly the hippies (boomers) have forgotten their own beliefs. Witness this quiet-part-out-loud admittance by tennis great Martina Navratilova.
Doesn’t really matter?? Martina here admits the narrative trumps the facts. Pun intended.
Hippies changed the world and continue doing so, through their legacy of peace, love and activism.
I see very little peace, love, or freedom from the hippies and boomers. If you do that’s fine but all I see is echo chambers (Bluesky), censorship (Joe Rogan), hate (MAGA), and cancel culture. Courtesy of the very people who were supposedly the most tolerant. And as far as activism, I doubt the paid Antifa thugs destroying small businesses and terrorizing citizens are even in the same universe as the activism MLK dreamt of.

Summary

The failings of the Sixties and the Hippies aren’t because they wanted to change the world, it’s because all of their solutions require a rejection of God and of time-tested self-denial.

I wanted to avoid the M-word, Marxism, but it’s hard to address the Sixties’ policy failings without it. Thomas Sowell and others have done great work tracking the rise of Marxism in colleges across the country, how it slipped in as harmless anti-capitalism to college students faced with Carter stagflation, but it’s fingerprints today are hard to dispute.

Almost every Antifa protest without solutions is a manifestation of Marxism.