The 60's weren't all bad. Much, certainly. Most, maybe. But not all. Even though the effects of the decade have been largely deleterious to the body politic in general and the cause of individual liberty in particular there are lessons to be learned from the methods of that madness. Lessons we can apply to the cause of liberty and limited government.
It is beyond dispute that the radicalism of the 60's has transformed the American republic for the worse. Those beliefs are there to be seen, in however perverted a form, wherever you look. The most visible example was the presidency of Bill Clinton, speaking of perversions of form. And forms of perversion. Slick built a lucrative career by pandering to various victim constituencies, the groups that were part and parcel of the radical coalition of that tumultuous decade. Gays in the military for the radical gay libbers. Black churches ablaze, even if only in his imagination, for the black victimization lobby. Abortion on demand for the femi-nazis. Gay scout leaders for NAMBLA. Nationalization of millions of acres for the enviro-socialist greens.
Even if we set aside his policy pandering, the slick one remains the poster child of that troubled time. His personal life is the sexual revolution taken to its inevitable conclusion. Every woman was, maybe still is, a possible one-night stand, as zipless as anything Erica Jong ever foisted on the reading public. If it felt good he did. And it all felt good. And as the most powerful man in the world there was an awful lot of it available.
But in the victory of the 60's lie the seeds of the defeat of the 60's. In the methods of that ideology's triumph are the means to its demise. A powerful start has been made here at LRC with many thoughtful people expressing their views. Every movement has its aspects. Every aspect has its part to play. And we can benefit from all of them.
The leftist movement of those storied days had its foundation in an economics based on Marx and Engels by way of Keynes. We have the Austrians and the Mises Institute. It also had a champion, someone to popularize those ideas in John Kenneth Galbraith. He had a public face and the ability to translate the Keynsian view into accessible analogies. We have Lew Rockwell. In my less than humble opinion, Lew is brilliant. His columns illustrate the truths of the Austrian model in everyday terms with unfailing clarity. He places the theory into concrete examples that even I can grasp. And with that graying beard and snazzy suit he is every bit as presentable as the professorial Galbraith. Plus, he runs my stuff so you have to love the guy.
Like it or not, every movement needs intellectuals. Once again the left looked to Marx. We have them hands down on this front with Jefferson et al to define basic concepts. I'll give odds on the doctrine of individual liberty over class envy all day long. On the front lines they had Marcuse. We have David dieteman. He might not have the notoriety yet but he has every bit of the intellectual wattage. dieteman's pieces are always impeccably researched and supported along with being well and clearly written. And prolific! Have you noticed the man's output over the past several weeks? I'm lucky to average one piece a week while David turns them out like Hank Williams turned out tunes; in greater quantity and higher quality than just about anyone else. He might live north of the line but you'd never know it.
Outrage was one of the greatest weapons employed by 60's radicals. Think Mario Savio. Think about the young guys on the steps of university libraries, clutching bullhorns and going on about "the man" and "the pigs" and "the power structure." Now think Myles Kantor and Jeremy Sapienza. Look at the photos that run with their columns. Theses two guys are honked off. They see stuff they just do not like and they don't mind telling you, me or anyone else about it. Good. Tell it like it is, fellas. Go get u2018em.
No revolutionary movement would be complete without a romantic figure. He must be fearless and unconcerned with danger, willing to place himself in harm's way. Picture Che Guevara with his long hair, beard and beret. What a poster! Che looking young, handsome and vibrant is seriously Romantic with a capital R. Well, we have one of those too. Have you scoped out Justin Raimondo's picture on the AntiWar.com site? He appears distracted, like he has big things on his mind and was too involved in them to be aware of the photographer's presence. The tousled hair, disheveled shirt and dangling cigarette convey just the right mix of deadly serious and devil-may-care. And he is going to Serbia to see the aftermath of imperialism for himself. What a poster!
We need artists. That part will take a while. Or maybe not. My personal opinion is that we should just take Dylan for our own. He worked for the 60's and I've always said that if you find something that works for you, you stick with it. By my reading Dylan has never been a leftist anyway. When I listen to him, and I listen all the time, I hear a fierce individualist, distrustful of groups and power structures, who would rather just stay on his own land and fish, drink whiskey, make babies and jam with his buddies. I'm all for paying more attention to parking meters than to our "leaders" too. How collectivism co-opted that message I am not sure except that Bob was always more concerned with maximizing his earning potential than might appear to the uninitiated. During the 60's it was the leftists who bought the records. It always seemed to me that Dylan was willing to let them think what they wanted to think as long as he got paid for it. My man.
Finally, there is one more crucial aspect to be covered when considering the success of the ideas of the 60's and how we can emulate that success. It is a force that we too often overlook. Ridicule. Subject the ideas of our enemies to scorn. Make them laughingstocks and the world at large can never see them in the same light again. I'm thinking Abbie Hoffman. I'm thinking Mort Sahl. The Merry Pranksters. The Pieman. And most of all, I'm thinking of the Yippies.
Who can forget the mockery this bunch made of the Pentagon when they gathered to surround it and chant in an attempt to levitate the building as a means of exorcising it? It might be stupid but it was great TV. Brilliant in its own inane fashion. And the Pieman is still actively pieing various public figures. He has gone from being a freedom radical to being one more knee-jerk collectivist, just like most of the rest of the 60's, but the idea of smacking someone who wants to be taken seriously in the kisser with a cream pie is an extremely effective device.
I propose to follow the example of the Youth International Party and be like the Yippies. Now they started off being very earnest, doctrinaire little radicals but we will skip that phase and cut right to the chase. They were at their most effective when they were the flag shirt wearing, pie throwing, Pentagon levitating Yippies. Perhaps their finest moments of political stagecraft and creative ridicule came during the Chicago 7 trial when Abbie and Jerry Rubin simply refused to take Judge Hoffman seriously. Their scorn served to de-legitimize the entire process. Use it.
As a means to that end I hereby declare the founding of the Southern Liberty Action Party (SLAP), the SLAPPIES. We will be the Yippies of the 21st Century liberty movement. Our avowed goal is to make fun of leftists, collectivists and statists of any stripe including neocons and moderates. They are all oh so earnest. And they want everyone to take their positions oh so seriously. Well I don't. Most of what they say is unreasonable, as in counter to reason. The tripe they spew, the hackneyed and misleading words they use like "choice," "diversity," "multiculturalism," "gender politics," "bipartisanship" and the rest are straight lines worthy of Margaret Dumont. We will supply the punchlines.
I don't know the man personally but I am hereby inviting Jimmy Cantrell to become a founding SLAPPY. Anyone who can skewer Biff and Baby the way Mr. Cantrell does regularly is a man I want on my side.
We all have something to contribute. Lew and David are erudite. Myles and Jeremy are steamed. Justin is going to Yugoslavia. Bob is just heading for another joint. I'll concentrate on heaping scorn on the self-important, tossing verbal pies in the face of earnest leftists and doing my best to make a mockery of people who value neither life nor liberty and whose favored means of pursuing happiness is to make sure that we can't. Ridicule is the weapon of the SLAPPIES.
SLAPPY ideology will be purely Marxist; equal parts Groucho, Chico and Harpo. Support the SLAPPIES. Ridicule a liberal today. Join us. At next year's convention we plan to levitate Teddy Kennedy. We'll need all the help we can get.
August 4, 2001
