Obama Will Lose Millions of Supporters because of His Anti-Marijuana Rhetoric and Policies

President Obama recently doubled-down on his harassment of the 17 states who now make medical marijuana available to adults with medical need.  The president seems to think he can rest on his progressive laurels — figuring no liberals will vote for Mitt Romney.   That may be true; but a significant number of voters are either going to sit this election out or support the Libertarian party candidate – former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson.  Most significantly, the groups that are most opposed to Obama’s drug war include those groups he most needs to motivate and mobilize again (e.g., young people, minorities, and those concerned with civil rights.)

Like many others, I was turned-off by the president’s flippant and condescending attitude he displayed during his recent Rolling Stone interview.  He then grew even more sarcastic during the White House Correspondence Dinner and on his appearance on Jimmy Fallon (where he was trying to woo young voters.)  The president we thought would be reasonable and fair, has become a “holier-than-thou” hypocrite who even admits to having smoked marijuana regularly while he was young.  In fact, the Obama administration has greatly accelerated the drug war way past George Bush – ruining millions of people’s lives and wasting billions of public dollars.  You will learn all about that here.

Now he is shifting the blame to congress which is a lazy cop-out.  As you will read, Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders are urging him to get real and end this stupid war on weed.  In this article, you will learn all about the special interest groups that are pulling the president’s strings on this important public policy and public health matter (e.g., lobbyists representing the pharmaceutical industry, alcohol companies, prison guards, police, and private prisons.)  You will also learn about some positive initiatives – including how Anonymous is getting involved in this vital issue.  Click below to learn the truth!!

Hippies Deserve Respect for their Values and Vision

The Occupy Movement owes much to the Hippie Movement of the sixties.  Now, the right wing has predictably started another round of “Hippie Bashing.”   The hippie subculture was a youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and was largely gone by 1973.    The word hippie is from hipster (used to describe kids who flocked into San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district.  Hippies inherited the counter-cultural values of the Beat Generation.  They also created their own communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs such as marijuana and LSD to explore alternative states of consciousness.  Above all, hippies were promoting the idea of peace, love, unity and freedom.

Hippie fashions and values had a major effect on culture, influencing popular music, television, film, literature, and the arts.  Since the 1960s, many aspects of hippie culture have been assimilated by mainstream society.  The religious and cultural diversity espoused by the hippies has gained widespread acceptance.  Their adoption of Eastern philosophy and spiritual concepts has now spread to a wide audience.  The hippie legacy can also be observed in contemporary culture from health food, to music festivals, to contemporary sexual mores, and the cyberspace revolution.  It is also clear that the well-established environmental movement owes a lot to the hippies (i.e., tree-huggers.)

This article includes recent reflections on the hippie movement in light of the occupy movement.  Original writings about the hippies from the sixties are also included.  This article includes quotes from Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman, Eldridge Cleaver and others. Finally, there are links to the best hippie videos on Youtube.   Click below to learn more about why the hippies are more important now than ever.

Young People Rocked Barack Right into White House

Young Americans have started to take control of their collective future by electing Barack Obama president.  Two-out-of-three voters under 30 chose Obama over McCain.  The kids now have their own leader who understands them and will work for them.  It is time for the older generation to leave the major decisions to those who will have to pay the consequences.  The younger generation invested more time and energy in Obama then for any previous politician.  Obama represents a blank slate for youthful hopes, dreams and aspirations.

The polls tended to underestimate the youth vote impact. Young people were able to surprise the pollsters and pundits who have generally ignored this key segment.  The fact is many young people will never be included in standard telephone surveys. Growing numbers of young people only have cell phones (which by law prohibit telemarketing and opinion polling.)   Telephone surveys also miss people who screen calls or are not home at night.  However, Obama was well aware of the potential power of the youth vote. He was able to reach out and tap their hopes for a better future.  Read on to learn how he did it and what that means to the future of our world!!

Obama Movement has Massive Momentum

The Obama political campaign clearly qualifies as a social movement that is larger than the sum of its parts. After the past week’s landslide victories in eight states by double-digit margins, it is clear to me and others that Barack Obama will be the Democratic candidate and ultimately president of the United States. Obama has brought many new people – especially youth – into the political process. At the same time, the lemmings are leaping off the sinking Clinton ship and the wheels are falling of McCain’s straight-talk express. In this post I will outline my assessment of this amazing moment in history as a sociologist with 25 years experience analyzing and promoting progressive social change.