Chris:
I
don’t think my generation changed the political system in any lasting and
positive way. We had some issues to fight, we had the energy, we had the
confidence, and we had the numbers. After the Vietnam War ended we tended to go
about our lives while more or less forgetting about the political system. Worse
yet, many of the ideas that we boldly espoused were shallow. They made sense in
the context of the sixties, but they didn’t have the well-rounded wisdom that
comes with age…. I think we were right about the
Vietnam
War but that has
certainly not led to a war free world.

Billy
:
The beginning of my
disillusionment with the 60s “revolution” came in the late Spring after Kent
State. One coed gave a… statement of principle…. We should go home and
convert our parents to liberation , was her view. “If we believe enough,” she
said, or words to this effect, ” we will achieve what we are seeking and America
will become a new country of peace,” etc. Nice sentiments, I guess, but how
utterly naive…. That is not how the world
works….

No-one did a
post battle analysis to honestly face the question: Why did we fail ? In what
ways is our ideology faulty ? Are there opportunities to repair at least some
damages with people who ought to be our allies, like organized labor and
“progressive”
churches?…

Overspecialization.
This is the problem…