people were not relentlessly comodified, the way they are now. people should live in an environment where nothing is bought and sold, just to see what it is like. you know what that is like, within families. there are family that fight about inherited, property, but in any decent family, you are not buying and selling to one another, you are giving. that is a gift economy. it is predicated on the idea that some things have an unconditional value. you cannot put a price on it. we just said, everything is a gift in our city. you cannot buy or sell anything. there is no advertising. you are not surrounded by this nattering pandemonium of commercial messages, which is so relentless. and lo and behold, we discovered, had a certain point in a community, when everyone is giving, -- people began to have experiences that were revelatory. they began to feel like they were in touch with that unconditional reality, which perhaps in their youth they identified as their life's goal. it creates a world in which -- just saturated with meaningful encounter. and i

then in the '60s what we've done to the '60s, subsequently, is basically comodified the '60s into fun that take out all of the politics, all of the idealism, all of the principles of the '60s. and these are just some examples, right? and no disrespect to these examples, i love some of these examples. [laughter] so how does it play out in our politics? this is where it gets interesting. and, again, when i say the '50s and '60s, i'm talking about the 1980s 'version. so let's look at it presidential election by presidential election. so 1988's presidential election you've got george h.w. bush running against a first generation working class democratic candidate. what is the tactic to defeat the democratic candidate? well, the aristocrat turns himself into a picture of the 1950s. if you read his rnc nominating speech, it's all about how he supposedly grew up in a shotgun house in a middle class -- i mean, this is the grandson of a senator, this is the picture of american aristocracy who turns himself into this, and how does he take down the democrat? flag burning. the image of the suppose