Bruce Eisner reminds me of a book I've been meaning to add to my fresh book list and blogs some excerpts from Timothy Leary:

"But the focus of counterculture is the power of ideas, images, and artistic expression, not the acquisition of personal and political power. Thus, minority, alternative, and radical political parties are not themselves countercultures. While many countercultural memes have political implications, the seizure and maintenance of political power requires adherence to structures too inflexible to accommodate the innovation and exploration that are basic to the countercultural raison d?'tre. Organization and institution are anathema to counterculture."