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May 22, 2013
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 It’s About Sex and the ’60sPosted on Mar 7, 2012
Odds are that Mitt Romney will still be the Republican nominee for president, but you have to feel sorry for him because he clearly has no idea what his party stands for and is running against. His principal opponent, Rick Santorum, does understand and has been able, so far, to hang in there against all of Romney’s money, breeding and accomplishment.
Santorum can be called a nut, legitimately, but he knows what he and the party are running against: sex and the ’60s.
Quotes from former Sen. Santorum:
—"Woodstock is the great American orgy. This is who the Democratic Party has become. They have become the party of Woodstock. They prey upon our most basic primal lusts, and that’s sex. And the whole abortion culture, it’s not about life. It’s about sexual freedom. That’s what it’s about. Homosexuality. It’s about sexual freedom."
—"It comes down to sex. That’s what it’s all about. It comes down to freedom, and it comes down to sex. If you have anything to do with any of the sexual issues, and if you are on the wrong side of being able to do all of the sexual freedoms you want, you are a bad guy. And you’re dangerous because you are going to limit my freedom in an area that’s the most central to me. And that’s the way it’s looked at."
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—"Sex is a means. Evolution is a means. And the aim is a secular world. It’s a, in my opinion, a hedonistic, self-focused world that is, in my opinion, anti-American."
He is hardly alone in this view. Millions of social conservatives, religious folks and other right-wingers believe that America began to go wrong, crazy and indecently wrong, in the mid-1960s. Young people rioted rather than go to war in Vietnam to make the world safe for democracy. Birth control pills. Drugs. Rock ’n’ roll—black music. It is no accident that Rush Limbaugh thinks contraception is a big issue—and it was in the ’60s. Like Santorum, he is arguing that somehow America, and the world, should return to the 1950s of their imagination.
And Woodstock, in 1969, is shorthand for all that some folks see as decadence. I don’t think Romney understands that. He grew up cloistered and rich, deep within a conservative and secretive religion. He was a Mormon missionary in France—zealously trying to convince a people half-Catholic and half anti-religious to join in giving up wine for God.
It is no wonder Romney has trouble connecting with people; he has simply lived a different life than most of us. His 1960s and 1970s were different than the people he is courting—the people who see themselves as the losers of the time. The tea party is part of this and part of his problem. They have been bypassed for decades, and then crushed by this great recession. They are not useful in the new economy. Sad, but true: As people live longer, life speeds up, leaving them behind.
Life is not fair. They are the losers. Santorum feels their pain. Romney, not a bad man, hasn’t a clue.
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By El_Pinguino, March 12, 2012 at 11:59 am Link to this comment
A few days after an article is published… the comments section always begins to drift….....
Report thisBy damedog, March 12, 2012 at 9:51 am Link to this comment
Sure, it’s not when it’s with someone you care about and not being done in the midst of heavy intoxication with various substances, or being pursued as a goal in and of itself to accumulate as many partners as possible, or being done partly as a sign of status which is so often the case now. I’m speaking primarily from my experience and in my generation, and the kind of culture of supposed freedom we have created has allowed people my age an excuse to act with no decency and no moral standards. In the high school I have just graduated from alone there were multiple outbreaks of STD’s and I can easily name 10+ girls who have had kids. In my experience sex isn’t really all that unless it’s done out of an expression of love, and doing it constantly outside of that diminishes it when you do make it such an expression.
Report thisBy Night-Gaunt, March 11, 2012 at 10:20 pm Link to this comment
Sex for pleasure isn’t “mindless.” It just doesn’t always end with a birth.
Report thisBy damedog, March 10, 2012 at 2:20 pm Link to this comment
Thanks CaliforniaGirl. People seemingly can’t believe that a young male would be against mindless sex, but it’s the truth and I stand by it.
Report thisBy John G, March 10, 2012 at 11:52 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Why are conservatives so concerned and controlling about what goes on in other people’s bedrooms? It must be because they are frustrated at not getting enough action in their own, and their religion doesn’t allow them to whack off.
Report thisBy oddsox, March 9, 2012 at 2:25 pm Link to this comment
Big B, I’ve lived in Oregon & it is both very progressive and very redneck depending on where you travel.
Rather than fight for secession, most people will continue to vote with their feet.
I’m assuming you’re familiar with the State of Jefferson?
Report thishttp://www.jeffersonstate.com/
By Big B, March 9, 2012 at 1:26 pm Link to this comment
I wish I shared your optimism oddsox. The ironic part of the old “succession” thing is that I would argue that instead of an ultra-conservative state like Texas or Arizona going, I would be more inclined to bet on a liberal leaner that borders Canada to go first, like Vermont or Washington/Oregon.
I guess what I see is the fabric of this nation is begining to tear apart, and things have not gotten really bad yet. I am not saying the shits gonna hit the fan tomorrow, but probably in my lifetime (I’m 48)
Report thisBy oddsox, March 9, 2012 at 9:33 am Link to this comment
Big B—agree with some of your points, though not the spin reasoning.
We will survive $6/gallon gas prices this year (low $5s more likely) and either a 2nd term for the favored Obama or a Mitt upset.
The earnest “talk of successions” you describe will be just that—talk.
We face threats and challenges, but ...
Report thisBet on America, long term.
By Big B, March 9, 2012 at 9:11 am Link to this comment
Unless gas goes to $6 a gallon and the economy completely tanks (it still ain’t good) Barry is a shoe in for another term, thanks to the christian right.
The christian wak-a moles have decided to fight the culture wars in order to queer the deal for mittens, all because he is a godless mormon. They have consigned themselves to 4 more years of center right Obomber, all the while attempting to turn entire states back to the 1850’s. And as of right now, its working. Fundamentalists have declared war on women and minorities, and come october, the GOP is going to look like something that fell out of tree while scratching its balls. But the backward states, thats where they can make hay. And they will.
This election is promising to be the begining of the end of america. Barry wins, southern and western states get even more conservative, and talk of successions begins in earnest. All the while the earth warms up some more, and the petroleum begins to run out and cause even more bankrupting wars.
Canned food and shotguns folks! stock up now!
Report thisBy Bort Malort, March 8, 2012 at 6:33 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I certainly won’t argue with the fact that American culture is as decadent and degenerate as that of the late Roman Empire, but I can hardly believe they’re dragging birth control into this.
The funny thing is, it’s Santorum’s buddies in big business that benefit from the hedonistic American culture. By coincidence, they also happen to control the same culture.
I’ve been thinking about America a fair amount recently and I just can’t decide if its problem is a massive conspiracy or just mass idiocy.
Report thisBy CaliforniaGirl, March 8, 2012 at 6:26 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“Damedog” sounds like a really bright l9-year-old. Sex can be a beautiful thing,
but what’s happened to the younger generation is awful. What is called “freedom”
is whoring around and exploiting others or letting yourself get exploited. The
result is that most girls have the HPV virus, and herpes, warts, etc. are rampant.
Sex is a beautiful thing between two people who care about and respect each
other. Otherwise, it’s about as meaningful as two dogs going at it.
Damedog. . hold onto your principles and don’t let anyone use or abuse you. You
Report thishave a good head on your shoulders. Don’t let your precious body and mind be
trashed, no matter how much pressure you feel from those around you.
By Night-Gaunt, March 8, 2012 at 4:36 pm Link to this comment
Willard “Mitt” Romney isn’t believable. He is in fact a mirror reflecting back what he gets then supports it. Unlike Rick Santorum he jumped to the dark side an stayed there. He is a true convert. They are the worse kind, the most fanatical of the true believers.
Report thisBy Tobysgirl, March 8, 2012 at 4:08 pm Link to this comment
As Lenny Bruce said (re toilet training), And some really sick parents rubbed their faces in it, and those kids grew up to be censors.
What does Santorum do when he thinks no one is looking? I always figure the more someone screams about other people’s sex lives, the more likely it is they’re doing something pretty disgusting such as raping boys in public bathrooms. The more buttoned-down people appear, the more my experience tells me they’re actually pretty darn weird.
Report thisBy oddsox, March 8, 2012 at 2:26 pm Link to this comment
Actually, Santorum is more in the dark than Romney.
They say Romney doesn’t connect with the People, but understands money and business.
And their importance.
That’s his comfort zone, and it might turn out to be his saving grace.
Lately and for the most part, Romney has been focused on the Economy and on Obama, which is just where he should be.
You’ve heard the expression “better lucky than good?”
That’s Mitt right now.
Romney’s still the underdog come November, but Republicans who want to win need to avoid the distractions designed to throw them off the scent, and keep the discussion tuned to Jobs and the Economy.
Santorum doesn’t do this.
He thinks he’s setting the agenda while being sucked into the social issues vortex.
He doesn’t realize it’s all by design with the intent to drag him under.
Then Santorum compounds the problem with his shoot-from-the-hip faux pas, which he then must explain away or put into context.
More time wasted.
More attention taken away from the #1 issue: the Economy.
He won’t get the nomination anyway, but if he did somehow, he couldn’t beat Obama going toe-to-toe with him on Religion, Race, Immigration, Gay Marriage, Legalized Marijuana or the newly-declared War Against Women. (how many others social/cultural issues can you name?)
Whether lucky or good, Romney, not Santorum, is hitting the mark.
Obama’s Achilles Heel is the Economy.
http://open.salon.com/blog/oddsox/2012/02/21/why_obama_is_favored_to_win_in_2012_—_and_how_to_beat_him
Report thisBy heterochromatic, March 8, 2012 at 12:09 pm Link to this comment
ikallicrates ———-The ‘60s weren’t about sex. They were about love.
BOTH.
I great deal of it involved throwing off the sexual repression and conformity that
Report thisSantorum craves.
By damedog, March 8, 2012 at 11:19 am Link to this comment
In all honesty, I don’t see that much wrong with having those type of Christian values. Not the anti-war stuff, but not wanting to be promiscuous and all that. I think the whole “but it’s about my FREEDOM!!” thing is a bit of a straw-man, no one is advocating making this type of thing law, but it is an ideal that we should pursue and seem to have forgotten as a culture. As a 19 year old, I can tell you that my generation is absolutely decadent when it comes to this.
Report thisBy SarcastiCanuck, March 8, 2012 at 11:14 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I think Santorum needs to get laid.A lot of anger there….
Report thisBy El_Pinguino, March 8, 2012 at 10:02 am Link to this comment
You can re-write anything after the fact. I suppose there is a relationship to the freeing of sexual expression to the deranged minds of the right wing pundits… but lets remember the left wing has all but abandoned the idea of liberalism as wikipedia defines it…
But the real difference between today and the 60s is as Suze Rotolo puts it in her book *A Freewheelin’ Time*...
” The sixties were an era that spoke a language of inquiry and curiosity and rebelliousness against the stifling and repressive political and social culture of the decade that preceded it. The new generation causing all the fuss was not driven by the market: we had something to say, not something to sell.”
Todays response to the 60s is to demonize it somehow. Preferably in an emotional way..straight to the heart kind of attack. (If the right attacked in an intellectual way, the attack would fall on deaf ears. ) So sex is the answer for the right.
And the left won’t reply with anything…for fear they might loose something.
I would give everything I own to go back to a day where people could talk and discuss things without fear. When the air was filled with public education ..for the good of humanity… not to get a good job. A time when democracy was discussing the world and then tallying that vote each November.
Report thisBy ikallicrates, March 8, 2012 at 9:39 am Link to this comment
The ‘60s weren’t about sex. They were about love.
The ‘60s were not about sex. They were about love.
The Generation of Love sought freedom for everyone, including homosexuals; but the freedom they sought was not just sexual freedom. They fought for civil rights and ended the Vietnam War. They sought freedom for all of us to love each other as brothers and sisters.
The right wing mischaracterizes the Love Generation as advocating only sexual freedom, because that enables them to ignore the political freedoms they advocated. We allow the right wing to set the terms of the political debate by fighting back against their attacks on our sexual freedoms while ignoring their attacks on our political freedoms.
Report thisBy EmileZ, March 8, 2012 at 4:45 am Link to this comment
Zappa - Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrMk6lh1gCE
Zappa - What’s The Ugliest Part Of Your Body
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okiGs4_vdyA
These songs pretty much sum up how I feel about it all.
Oh what the heck, one more…
Zappa - Absolutely Free
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Sz_PfErfk
Report thisBy EmileZ, March 8, 2012 at 4:12 am Link to this comment
@ gerard
I am constantly amazed by the women’s hairdos whenever I watch an old film from a major Hollywood studio.
I think the Ricker’s message is in part hitting home with a lot of people because of the (OK I don’t have the best words here) sexualization of advertizing, in the media, in the magazines…
Little girls and boys spending way more time then they should worrying about their appearance and developing complexes that they carry with them into adulthood.
Stuff like that which I suppose is inevitable, but is somewhat heightened by our commercial culture and totally inane corporate music videos and television and such.
I’m not trying to defend any of the Ricker’s sick and sad positions or anything, but I can understand why some people might think the country is “going to hell” just on the criteria I have briefly mentioned.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, March 7, 2012 at 10:15 pm Link to this comment
great insane quotes!!!!!!!
I kinda disagree with Reeves about Romney not
understanding what the Party stands for,,,, as I’ve
watched the Republican primaries, it’s become rather
clear that Romney understands just how much idiotic
shit he has has to push out to capture the votes of
those bizarros who are the primary voters in the
party…and he’s struggled to do that, knowing that
he won’t be able to explain it to the people who vote
in the general election.
Santorum though is right at home going on an all-out
Report thisbizarro binge.
even on the rare occasion when he’s got something
sane to say, he’s great at covering it in bizarro-
speak and slimy demonizations.
By mrfreeze, March 7, 2012 at 9:43 pm Link to this comment
I’m reminded of Bill Maher bemoaning the fact that Americans are like little children who can’t get past thinking about pee pee parts….
Report thisBy gerard, March 7, 2012 at 9:23 pm Link to this comment
Love the picture! Only—hi, folks! I go back farther than that. Before hair-dryers, even. Want a 1930s wave? Shampoo your hair and rub partially dry with a “Turkish” towel.
Report thisCrack one egg and separate the white from the yolk. Cover the yolk with water and store in the refrigerator for breakfast. Take the white as is, and comb it into your damp hair. This will thicken your hair and help it stand alone. Use your flattened hands to squeeze it into waves about an inch high. Let it dry. This will take some time, so get a copy of Good Housekeeping or Ladies Home Journal or Cosmo and have them within reach as you sit down, make yourself comfortable, and wait for the egg white to dry out and harden. When thoroughly dry, comb through once, gently so as not to destroy the waves which should remain in your hair for several hours. You don’t believe me? You haven’t lived!