The Grateful Dead Has Perfect Answer To Our ‘Culture War’ Woes

(Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)

This post is adapted from the Daily Caller’s Substack, State of the Day. Click here to sign up.

Every spring, I always find myself on a Grateful Dead kick. It must be the warm weather, the longer days, the promise of summer adventure. Sand on your feet. Ice-cold beer in hand. I’m not even old yet, and here I am about to wax nostalgic: the music reminds me of a summer in my teenage years, when I ditched my iPhone and social media, started a “band” with two of my friends, and learned to play a shoddy “cover” of “Eyes of the World.” My friend on guitar was actually a gifted musical wizard, without whom the cover would have sounded truly atrocious. My other friend, a rhythmic greenhorn, played the drums in a manner reminiscent of the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. I, too, stumbled through a stripped-down bass line that had been modified for a guitar goober like myself. I came away from the experience with slightly more self-awareness, a better appreciation for true musical talent, a highly coveted line for future first dates – “I was in a band once” – as well as a love for the Grateful Dead.

Since then, I have encountered a lot of conservatives who also love – revere – the Grateful Dead, even though their music has long been associated with hippies, drug use, and what many would see as the more unsavory elements of the countercultural revolution of the 1960s. You’ll know what I mean when I say this: the Grateful Dead screams “Boomer Liberal.” It screams boomer liberal New York transplant who lives in Vermont, has had both his knees replaced, is slightly brain-fried thanks to the copious amounts of pot he smoked as a teenager, and pretends to care about Black Lives Matter even though he is wealthy and has ensconced himself in a bubble of fellow white, affluent liberals. 

There is some truth to this cliche. However, for every........

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