I'm curious. Is there a factual basis for this comment, "the Green Party’s longstanding tradition of pretending to be a serious political party by winning the votes of disaffected hippies and teenagers who don’t like politics?" I'm wondering, too, what have 'disaffected hippies' and teenagers done to warrant snark, disdain, and contempt?
Now that you've got me thinking, hippies came out of the counter-culture of the early and mid-60s. The hippies advocated for such things as peace, environmental and animal protection, renewable energy, a free press, organic (sustainable) agriculture, women's liberation, civil rights, cannabis legalization, cooperative living, and democratic reform, to list a few ideas. The Line, ironically, is just the kind of free press hippies championed and founded. See John McMillan's "Smoking Typewriters."
Out of the mid-60s counter-culture came ground-breaking books like Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (1962), Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" (1963), John Howard Griffin's "Black Like Me" (1961), etc. And, noting previous The Line scribblings, Frank Herbert's "Dune" (1965).
Today, more people get it (finally) that hippie notions are now necessary--and being advocated--to address today's most pressing and life-threatening issues (and many of today's pressing issues are only pressing because hippies' utopian ideas were successfully deviantized by political, media, and corporate status quo profiteers). Is it any wonder why aging hippies today might be disaffected? Hippies told you so and showed you how.
Last thought, you write the Green Party is "pretending to be a serious political party..." Why? The Green Party is a serious political party just like the Reform Party was in 1987. The only electoral difference is the Reform Party’s vote was highly localized (Alberta), the Green Party's support is more dispersed (national). The Canadian electoral system, First-Past-the-Past, rewards the former and beggars the latter. In democratic nations with a genuinely democratic electoral systems, Green Parties wield much influence and it’s growing.
To conclude, thinking of my grandchildren, like it or not, teenagers are citizens, too.
I'm curious. Is there a factual basis for this comment, "the Green Party’s longstanding tradition of pretending to be a serious political party by winning the votes of disaffected hippies and teenagers who don’t like politics?" I'm wondering, too, what have 'disaffected hippies' and teenagers done to warrant snark, disdain, and contempt?
Now that you've got me thinking, hippies came out of the counter-culture of the early and mid-60s. The hippies advocated for such things as peace, environmental and animal protection, renewable energy, a free press, organic (sustainable) agriculture, women's liberation, civil rights, cannabis legalization, cooperative living, and democratic reform, to list a few ideas. The Line, ironically, is just the kind of free press hippies championed and founded. See John McMillan's "Smoking Typewriters."
Out of the mid-60s counter-culture came ground-breaking books like Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (1962), Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" (1963), John Howard Griffin's "Black Like Me" (1961), etc. And, noting previous The Line scribblings, Frank Herbert's "Dune" (1965).
Today, more people get it (finally) that hippie notions are now necessary--and being advocated--to address today's most pressing and life-threatening issues (and many of today's pressing issues are only pressing because hippies' utopian ideas were successfully deviantized by political, media, and corporate status quo profiteers). Is it any wonder why aging hippies today might be disaffected? Hippies told you so and showed you how.
Last thought, you write the Green Party is "pretending to be a serious political party..." Why? The Green Party is a serious political party just like the Reform Party was in 1987. The only electoral difference is the Reform Party’s vote was highly localized (Alberta), the Green Party's support is more dispersed (national). The Canadian electoral system, First-Past-the-Past, rewards the former and beggars the latter. In democratic nations with a genuinely democratic electoral systems, Green Parties wield much influence and it’s growing.
To conclude, thinking of my grandchildren, like it or not, teenagers are citizens, too.
Man I love you guys. Might have said that wrong, Wow I like you writers at The Line a lot.