On a chilly February night, a few years back, I drove to a combination food co-op/general store along Highway 63 between Rochester and Lake City where former Minnesota senator and presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy read his poetry.

Tuesday, December 28, 1999

On a chilly February night, a few years back, I drove to a combination food co-op/general store along Highway 63 between Rochester and Lake City where former Minnesota senator and presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy read his poetry. I wore my McCarthy campaign button – the button he used in his 1968 presidential campaign. It was then he became "a dethroner of a President," a description used on the inside jacket of "Required Readings," one of his later books.

The first time I wore one of his campaign buttons was in Vietnam. I wore it until I bumped into the brigade sergeant major. Campaign buttons were not sanctioned.

At the time I also liked Bobby Kennedy, who also was running for president. However, senator Kennedy had waited until McCarthy had challenged President Johnson before announcing his candidacy.

My admiration for McCarthy grew when questioned about Kennedy’s athletic prowess. McCarthy’s response: "Bobby Kennedy plays softball. I played baseball. Bobby Kennedy plays touch football. I played football. Bobby Kennedy goes skating. I played hockey."

Even though McCarthy was defeated for candidacy by another former Minnesota senator in the tumultuous convention of 1968, he helped change the course of history. He certainly rallied the youth and strengthened the opposition to the war.

During 1968 there was other turmoil in the world. One such event came to be known as the "Prague Spring," an attempt at social democracy in Czechoslovakia. A reform movement was headed then by Alexander Dubcek. At the time another young Czech reformer and playwright came to visit America that same year – Vaclav Havel. He mentioned later, relating to the young people here, he was also active in the Prague Spring.

The movement was suppressed by the Soviet Union.

Years later, a Russian professor was put on the spot by a Western reporter when asked about this. He responded by pointing out that the Soviet Union put down a revolution without firing a shot, but the United States killed four students at Kent State.

Twenty-one years later the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia came to be. Then, their chant was "truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred."

Since the Velvet Revolution, I have become a student of Czech history and Vaclav Havel, the Czech playwright most responsible for making the Velvet Revolution possible.

Last year I was present at Macalister College when Havel gave his Civil Society Symposium. He is now the president of the Czech Republic. In his 1990 talk before a joint session of Congress, he mentions the inspiration of Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence.

Last week, Knowles Dougherty sent an article from a recent Wall Street Journal. The headline was circled, saying, "For many Czechs, ‘Velvet’ Revolution Has a Coarse Edge." The article touches on the student activists’ role in 1989 and what unfortunately, seems to have happened since – "something not so funny happened on the way to their post-communist paradise. People stopped smiling at each other and began thinking about themselves. There’s a lack of love.’"

Lucie Viklova, a sociologist, said in the report: "We started out spiritual and ended up material."

A me-first attitude has opened a huge rich-poor gap, contributing to an all-around "bad mood" as Czech dissident-turned President Vaclav Havel puts it.

The article points out that in the United States people who have success are to be admired while in the Czech Republic, "success is a source of suspicion and envy."

The students didn’t talk about economics when they supported the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when they asked people what they thought of democracy, of human rights, of an open society.

"Then," Monika Pajerova says, "this materialist thing took over, and we weren’t strong enough to say, ‘This isn’t what the revolution was all about."

The situation in the Czech Republic, according to this article, is disturbing. My hope is that the country doesn’t adopt our materialistic ways. Bohemians are known for being thrifty, for seeking the truth and for being free thinkers. My hope is that these virtues prevail in the Czech Republic and serve as a model here.

If you desire more information on this subject, I encourage you to read "Disturbing the Peace" or "Vaclav Havel: The Authorized Biography," both are available in the Austin Public Library.

Happy New Year. Don’t forget to get some matches to light the candles.

Bob Vilt’s column appears Tuesdays