It was my good fortne to come of age before the 1960s decade. Many say that was when the nation grew up, matured into what it could become.

It's still becoming in certain quarters, still playing out those heady days and exhilarating nights of the 1960s. But the end is in sight.

The 1960s was when young people discovered that they could own a nation. Both time and television were on their side, and they set about making their voices heard. They were loud and raucous.

As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, they made love and they made music. They turned drugs into recreational pursuits. They made lots of noise--the idealistic noise of youth. They turned one traditional institution after another on its head--abandoning most of them. The thinking individual and the individualism that created this country were held up to ridicule. In its place they embraced group-think and the modern dictum, All for one and one for all.

The 1960s crowd turned college campuses into propaganda machines. They invented political correctness. They threw stones at business and politics. They began moving into positions of power in medicine, law, education, business and the legislative process. They viciously attacked the family, religion, war, government, and anything else that stood in their way.

It was all about them--nothing else mattered. 1960s people were self-centered. It's a short step from It's all about me to the more sinister Take care of me. But they are still taking that step--with glee, and with nary a thought as to consequencies.

When you cut your lifeline to your own past, you are adrift in a sea of possibilities. The 1960s generation set about creating their new world with a distinct brand. It's the one we now live in.

Almost all the social legislation now in place was put there by the 1960s generation. Environmental and health issues were tackled with enthusiasm. Individual "rights" were recognized and expanded with numerous new laws and regulations. They created a new police state (administered by bloated bureaucracies) to replace the one they threw over.

That done, we now have governments searching everywhere for new avenues to legislate. The number and depth of laws and regulations appalls any thinking person. Politicians continually set about identifying--or creating--new constituent groups to keep the pork coming. Bloated tax revenues in the 1980s and 1990s are still being used to form new bureaucracies and expand previous programs.

Old habits die hard. But there seems to be hope for the mess we're in. The 1960s generation is itself now under attack.

The great tsunami wave of the 1960s rushed onto the sandy beaches of our nation, destroying everything in its path. But the great wave has petered out. It has run its course, and it is rapidly returning to the sea of history.

A new generation has already burst onto the scene. It's the internet generation. The soundbite generation. The text messaging generation. It remains to be seen just what kind of nation we'll become.

But one thing is certain. The 1960s people are moving on. Finally.

From: Saving Western Civilization, (c) Al Warr, 2008

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