Reply #8: As long as the establishment exists there will always be long haired hippies..

[Fumesucker]

Oh, they may be called something else and they may not have long hair but there is always some viscerally hated "other" out there to direct the anger of all moral, right-thinking people toward.

An easily demonizable subset of society is a very useful thing to the powers that be.

One of many reasons the drug war is so beloved of politicians, it creates an easily demonizable segment of society.