Rule of the Hippies

When I was young, I thought of myself as a bit of a hippie. Loved nature, had a copy of the Whole Earth catalog, hitchhiked everywhere. Didn’t like people telling me how to live my life. Remember how the world was going to be a better place, if we could just sing enough songs?" The Times They are A Changin’, Peace Train, the classic: Kumbayah, of course.

Well, be careful what you wish for... the hippies have taken over. The funny thing is that yesterday's counter-culture now runs the State government, the very entity that they 'turned on, tuned in and dropped out' to escape 40 years ago. Yes, it has actually been that long since that super-songfest called Woodstock marked the beginning of the Age of Aquarius. Where have all the flowers gone? They've gone to Montpelier every one. And the problem is they've forgotten one of the key elements of their early beliefs: that small is beautiful. Today's liberal hippies, once they got got their hands on power, suddenly saw the beauty of Big Government. A government that’s going to control every aspect of your life. A control their arch-nemesis, Richard Nixon, could never have imagined. They’ll decide what doctor you’ll see and when: National Health Care. They’ll decide what food you can eat: no trans-fat for you! They’ll decide whether you can shop: Walmart? Not if we can help it. And school choice: not when we hold the purse strings. Your kids will be going to the school we tell them to go to, at least if you want us to use your fellow taxpayer’s money to pay for it. Oh yes, they’re generous, alright, when it comes to spending your money. Remember when hippies told each other you couldn’t trust anyone over thirty? And that the problem with the world was that everyone was too uptight? Well, who and where are the control freaks now?

It’s time to stand up and fight for freedom, to argue and push back as our lawmakers ensnare us in regulation, red tape, taxes and out of control fines. It’s time to Question Authority. I don’t know about you, but if The Man gave me a $214 ticket for making an illegal left turn on Elm Street by Bentley’s, as one unfortunate out-of-stater received last month, I’d be thinking of becoming a Conscientious Objector and moving to Canada. Where’s the outrage! Now, the law’s the law, and without it we’re lost, but that’s practically 4 day’s pay for a person on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. Clearly the police are just doing their job, but what is the goal? Safety or revenue? The other day, down by the Police Station, an officer pulled a U-turn directly in front of us while my 16 year old was driving. We almost broadsided him. Apparently he was hot to pull over a speeder going in the opposite direction, we can’t have people going 31 mph within this village. Wouldn’t be safe! Gotta protect the townspeople, no matter how many near-crashes it takes.

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign, do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign? That was a biggie in the 60’s. Well, our hippie leaders took care of that one, they outlawed the signs. They created an anti-advertising law of such byzantine complexity that people are actually out there measuring with rulers how far the signs are from the window glass. Yep, signs are scarce these days, but there sure are a lot of rules. And heaven help you if you don’t know them all. 

It’s time to get back to the fundamentals this country was built on, what those other long-haired radicals summed up 200 years ago in the Declaration of Independence; the ones that appear in our Vermont Constitution, Chapter 1, Article 18:

“That frequent recurrence to fundamental principles, and a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty, and keep government free; the people ought, therefore to pay particular attention to these points, in the choice of officers and representatives”.

Our leaders have disregarded these basic principles. In justice; I’d cite the Brooke Bennett case. As to moderation? Montpelier has increased our taxes at a completely immoderate rate. Temperance; the police, at least, don’t seem to understand the word. Industry, if that means promoting hard work and encouraging business, they ignore. Though they certainly are industrious in working toward the opposite end, creating the country’s most generous welfare state while at the same time chasing businesses from the state. Frugality is most definitely not in their vocabulary. They spend your money like drunken sailors.

Chapter 1, Article 18 tells us, that if we want to keep our government free and to preserve the blessings of liberty, it’s up to us to ensure our representatives pay attention to the fundamentals. Instead we have a leaders with their own personal playbill:  green agendas, pushing government health care and advancing the frontier of sexual politics. The fundamentals are being ignored, it’s time to bring back Power to the People. Time to overthrow the rule of the hippies, the Hippie-ocracy we live under. Or maybe we should call it the Hippocracy.