Ted Nugent on the "Summer of Drugs"

Ted Nugent is one of the greatest all time rock musicians; in recent years he has become one of the most eloquent statesman in America on the topics of personal liberty and personal responsibility.

Ted's latest essay, this one for the Wall Street Journal, takes to task romantic notions of the Summer of Love (not to be confused with this Summer of Love) that took place some 40 years ago. Short of the civil rights movement and some great music, Nugent finds absolutely nothing of value from the decade of the 1960s and successfully traces many of our current ills to the half-baked notions developed by the so-called "counter-culture." Indeed, the 60s was the petri dish for the malignant narcissism that is rampant today.

Nugent - who has never gone in for alcohol and drugs - said the following of his experience amongst the "tuned-on, tuned-in and dropped-out" generation:

I literally had to step over stoned, drooling fans, band mates, concert promoters and staff to pursue my musical American Dream throughout the 1960s and 1970s. I flushed more dope and cocaine down backstage toilets than I care to remember. In utter frustration I was even forced to punch my way through violent dopers on occasion. So much for peace and love. The DEA should make me an honorary officer.

Nugent connects rising rates of divorce, high school drop outs, drug use, abortion, sexual diseases and crime as well as "the exponential expansion of government and taxes" to the "if it feels good, do it" lifestyle of the 1960s and "hippies who thought utopia could be found in joints and intentional disconnect."

When our leaders exercise some personal responsibility in their own lives and hold especially young people to higher standards rather than endeavoring to garner them self-esteem, we may eventually get back on track.

Happy Fourth of July!

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Today we mark the 231th anniversary of the signing of the greatest document ever written on Earth. It was so important and the men who signed it believed in it so much they mutually pledged "to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Read the full text of the Declaration of Independence.

VillarSalinas: We Told You So

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is in the midst of divorce proceedings with his wife, acknowledged he is in a relationship with a Spanish-language television reporter, according to a statement published Tuesday.

Villaraigosa issued a statement, published Tuesday by the Los Angeles Daily News, acknowledging his involvement with Telemundo newswoman Mirthala Salinas, after the paper told the mayor it was set to publish a story about their relationship.

"It is true that I have a relationship with Ms. Mirthala Salinas. As I've said I take full responsibility for my actions, and I once again ask that people respect my family's privacy. For my part, I intend to stay focused on my job, and to work as hard as I can every day to be the best mayor I can be," Villaraigosa said.