in the distant future, people will look back and wonder what the root cause of america's decline was.

and, very few will look to the system nixon created, which was really an effect rather than a cause.

the root cause of america's decline was the anti-intellectualism attached to the hippie movement. and, i don't mean the anti-war movement or the civil rights movements - these were things that might have succeeded (in fact, both failed) had they been attached to a strong union movement with an interest in scientific advancement.

but, the hippies rejected all of that in favour of a mindless collapse into vacuous spiritualism, individualistic selfishness, environmental catastrophism and simple magical thinking, then called it a "social revolution".

in truth, the hippies were the most backwards, reactionary force that the world has ever known. and, they ruined america's chances to have an actual social revolution - not for a generation, but permanently. it was roughly 1970 that we stopped evolving as a society.

zappa was a visionary. and, you should interpret him as a historian as much as an artist; it is his narrative that will survive, as future generations look back not just in horror, but in anger. for the failure of the hippies is historic, given where they existed in time.

they really were the most important generation. but, they blew it.