Are Congressional Republicans The New Hippies?

My Beautiful and Talented Wife (The BTW) and I went to see the new production of the Broadway musical "Hair" in New York City last Saturday.

                                   1969                             2010

This was not my typical trip to the theater.  I saw the original Broadway version of "Hair" in 1969.  I went on my birthday, the same day I registered for the draft and have very strong memories of the experience.  Four decades later I still remember the people I went with and that we had standing room tickets at the back of the theater.  For that matter, I still remember which theater it played in and, of course, the music.   In a era when the word "download" did not yet exist, I ultimately had to buy an additional copy of the album when the quality of the music got bad because I had played it so often.

So I went with a great deal of anticipation and just a few goose bumps.

But what I felt  was completely different that what I had expected.  As the BTW and I watched the actors playing the hippies on stage, it was hard not to conclude that one of the biggest changes from when I last saw "Hair" was that the real radicals these days are not kids on the street wearing torn jeans, wearing peace symbols, and getting high (Never mind the fact that torn jeans are now sold in the stores). 

Today, the most radical behavior by far is coming from middle age congressional Republicans.

Think about it: GOP members of the House and Senate routinely reject rules, norms, and procedures and, like the hippies from the 60s, feel absolutely justified in doing it. 

House and Senate Republicans also don't feel bound by precedents or culture.  And, as Senator Jim Bunning's one-man filibuster shows, GOP members of Congress are more than willing to blow up the system.  If anything, the now historic use of the filibuster by Senate Republicans (the modern day equivalent of going to a be-in where there's a mass burning of draft cards) shows that blowing up the system is the objective.

Only three things seem to be different.

First, congressional Republicans are not living in the park.

Second, while the travails of Mark Sanford seem to indicate that "free love" from the 60s is part of the GOP existence, John Edwards shows that it's clearly not something that is exclusively a GOP/hippie lifestyle.

Third, given how many senators are bald, it's almost impossible to sing the first line from the title song of the musical ("Give me a head with hair") with a straight face.