The Largest Case of Arrested Development In History

I think it’s a common adolescent experience to be idealistic. At some age, we become aware of the broader world around us, with its many beauties - offset by the ugliness of its cruel realities. Shocked, we wonder, “Why does the world have to be like this? Why can’t we all just get along?”

We then imagine a world where everyone gets along - where we sit together around a campfire and sing songs about peace, love and understanding. All we have to do is talk to the other guy and everything will be all right. Right?

Even I experienced this idealism. Yes, me, the lifelong Republican. I came of age during the Reagan years, when tensions with the Soviet Union were high and there was a constant threat of sudden nuclear holocaust. In my teenage mind, I became convinced that if I could just talk to Leonid Brezhnev, I could persuade him to disarm. After all, didn’t the Russians love their children too?

But then I grew up.

I realized that there was a power struggle going on in the world. It wasn’t primarily a physical struggle, but an ideological one.

One side was led by the United States. Our side believed in the power of the individual. The state existed to serve the people.

The other side was led by the Soviet Union. It believed in the power of the state. The people existed to serve the state.

The Cold War, with its occasional hot outbreaks, was the physical manifestation of this ideological struggle.

Today, the teenagers of the 1960s are in positions of power. The problem is, the hippie generation never grew up and out of their adolescent idealism. They still look at the world with the view of high-school kids – it revolves around them, they know all the answers, and anyone in positions of power (except them) is an idiot. We can all still get along. All we have to do is sit down, talk, smoke a few joints, and sing some Bob Dylan songs.

Now in their fifties and sixties, the hippie generation still can’t let go of their glory days “fighting the man” and protesting the Vietnam War. (They have however, faced with the irony of their age, revised their famous slogan from “don’t trust anyone over the age of thirty” to “don’t trust anyone who’s a Republican or Christian.”)

For them, the war in Iraq was a godsend. Here was the chance to show us they still had it. They still mattered. They were hip (or at least had hip replacements). They had the chance to do what many of us dream of doing – relive the best years of their lives. So they took to the streets, chanting, marching, carrying signs, making peace signs. They were “fighting the man” again and it felt good!

But what we’re witnessing today, in the rantings of the anti-war crowd, isn’t the rebirth of the hippie generation. Instead, it is the largest case of arrested development ever seen.

Maybe it’s time for them to grow up, let go of their childhood, and take on the tough responsibilities that come with being an adult.