| It is a little more complicated than that. First, the Civil Rights Movement exposed a deep flaw in American society, and undermined respect for existing leadership. Second, the war in Vietnam strained our trust. It was within those contexts that the drug culture could have much influence. What you characterized as the "drug culture" was, more broadly, the mass marketing of Bohemianism. That is why it was more "liberationist" than truly leftist, and can be found on the Right, among some Libertarians, as well as on the Left. It had more to do with unconventionality and finding oneself than with pursuing a broad social agenda. The Port Huron Statement, which was the manifesto of Students For a Democratic Society, announced that that generation was looking for a society where love was more possible, and John Lennon was considered deep. Of course, a culture cannot flourish without a sense of continuity and trust in major institutions, and it took Ronald Reagan to restore a lot of the damage. But not all, unfortunately. |
