Much as I hate to say this, a LOT of us at FR (me included) are from "Bill Clinton's" generation.
Just like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson don't speak for or represent all black Americans, Bill Clinton and the hippies don't represent all of us from that generation. As I stated, the hippies were a minority. The rest of us worked and paid taxes, we joined the service and defended our country in Vietnam (willingly or otherwise); we were too busy trying to find our own way in the world and make meaningful contributions to pay a lot of attention to the hippies. What your post suggests is that the clowns are the most important part of the circus - they aren't and never have been. They're an amusing sideshow that provide the animals and other performers with a break - that's what the hippies of "Bill Clinton's" generation did. It was the media and the "Gen X" and "Gen Y" folks who romanticized the hippies and made them mainstream. At the time, they were just an amusing sideshow and distraction. When you tar everyone with the same brush, you include the 2.5+ million of us who went to 'Nam, who joined the space program, who researched and developed new technologies that allow you to publish your thoughts to a worldwide audience, etc. We weren't all hippies and your hasty generalizations to assume that they represent us all expose your naivete'.
Once again, it’s a metaphor. If you’re not a hippie then you’re not part of the hippie generation and it’s not directed at you. If you believe in and support traditional values, it’s not directed at you. I have friends from that era who were conservative at the time and I also have friends who were hippies, some still are. It’s just a thought piece. I enjoy finding old quotes or pieces of writing that apply to what’s happening today and sharing it with others. I’m sorry I offended you.