By Jim Whitt, Contributing Editor
In 1968, I took my date to the Poncan Theatre. I had no real expectations of what was playing but it was Saturday night and that’s what you did for entertainment back then – you went to the picture show. I’ll never forget the movie I saw that night – Wild in the Streets.
An online search retrieved this synopsis of the film: “Archetypal 1960s musician Max Frost (Christopher Jones) lends his backing to a Senate candidate who wants to give 18-year-olds the right to vote, but he takes things a step further than expected. Inspired by their hero’s words, Max’s fans pressure their leaders into extending the vote to citizens as young as 15. Max and his followers capitalize on their might by bringing new issues to the fore, but drunk on power, they soon take generational warfare to terrible extremes.”
In the movie, rock star Max Frost endorses Congressman Johnny Fergus, who is running on the Democratic ticket for a California Senate seat. Fergus wants to lower the voting age to 18. Max spikes the Washington, D.C., water supply with LSD and while Congress trips out, Max and his teenaged minions manage to get the voting age lowered to 15. These adolescents now constitute a powerful new voting block and propel the 22-year-old Max into the White House. He then sentences everyone over 30 to concentration camps where they’re condemned to live in a drug induced state.
Although the movie was fictional, 1968 proved to be a Wild in the Streets reality show. Here’s a list of actual events that took place that year: The Soviet army invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia; North Korea captured the Navy intelligence vessel USS Pueblo and its crew; Lyndon Johnson became increasingly unpopular due to the escalation of the Vietnam war and announced he would not seek another term as president; Vice President Hubert Humphrey announced he was running for president; Robert Kennedy was assassinated the same day he won the California presidential primary; Martin Luther King was assassinated; students occupied several buildings on Columbia University’s campus; protests and riots broke out around the world; and the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago where thousands of protesters clashed with police and ended with Humphrey’s nomination only to see him lose to Richard Nixon in the general election. Many attribute Nixon’s win to a cameo appearance on the TV show Laugh-In, where he infamously delivered the show’s reoccurring punchline, “Sock it to me!” Yes, 1968 was that weird. Thankfully, on Dec. 24, the year ended with a much-needed Christmas gift when the astronauts aboard Apollo 8 became the first humans to orbit the moon.
As 2024 winds down, it appears we have not made any progress in the last 56 years but have made things much worse. Consider this list of events from the last four years: The debacle of the Afghanistan withdrawal; Russia invades Ukraine; Hamas invades Israel murdering more than 1,200 people, raping women and taking hostages; millions of illegal aliens invading and occupying our country; Anti-Semite protests and riots at Columbia and other universities; Biden booted as a candidate for a second term; Harris anointed as his replacement; Trump resurrected as the Republican candidate after overcoming an avalanche of lawfare attacks and two assassination attempts. I could go on, but you’ve seen this show.
Wild in the Streets featured Max Frost performing a song that ends with this refrain: “Nothing can change the shape of things to come.” Even though the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18 in 1971, no one would ever dream of giving the right to vote to 15-year-olds, would they? How about giving the right to vote to illegal aliens and granting them blanket amnesty? As bizarre as the world has become the last few years, we may have just seen a preview of coming attractions. The question is, “Can our republic survive another four years like the last four years?” Circle Nov. 5 on your calendar. That day may be our last chance to change the shape of things to come. It may determine whether we can take back our country or if Wild in the Streets becomes a never-ending reality show.
