I've heard many people compare these times to the 1960s, saying that today's turmoil and unrest is very similar. Having grown up in the 1960's, I must disagree.
Yes, there were riots that rocked the nation back then. There were huge protest movements. There were revolutionary new theories, such as feminism and "free sex." Probably most destablizing at that time were the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, followed less than five years later by the assassinations in rapid succession of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the latter during a presidential campaign. Those were rough and frightening days; I remember them well.
The difference between then and now is clear to me. In the 1960s, our national institutions were on firm ground. Today, none of them are.
Colleges and universities in the United States still provided classical education in the 1960s; the Marxists had not yet made much progress in their relentless onslaught on our educational system. The Supreme Court was sacred; in the 1960s, no one would have imagined an assassination attempt on a Supreme Court justice. The southern border was a non-issue. The family unit was still honored, with parents having full authority over their children.
The military was far above partisan politics; no one worried about an errant ideology encroaching upon our armed forces. Law enforcement officers commanded respect and did their jobs with community support. Parents and employees were able to speak freely in public, protected by the First Amendment, regardless of their political or philosophical views. And while corruption has always been an unpleasant aspect of politics, Americans in the 1960s did not question the integrity of our elections.
The 1960s made a lot of noise and, in many cases, real progress towards the changes that ensued in the following decades. But activists and protestors in the 1960s were limited, confined by the firm outlines of a fully functional system of education, legislation, social structure, and justice.
In 2022, that is no longer true. In short, we have seen the wheels have come off our society. Today there is no safe place to seek shelter from the ceaseless indoctrination and heavy-handed enforcement of an increasingly totalitarian, leftist government. The solid framework of our republic has been winnowed out, from family to school, from church to the workplace, from national military to local police. We should not be surprised that the arches of our institutions are collapsing in upon us.
Even if enough Americans have the strength and spirit for the fight, it will be a long haul to rebuild our country to its rightful state. It could take another 60 years. We'd better get started.
