"There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear" : so begins the Buffalo Springfield hit from the 1960's "For what it's Worth." The song became an anthem for a generation accustomed to protest, including the Viet Nam War, and Kent State shootings.

While Steven Stills wrote it about a nightclub closure on Sunset Boulevard, listeners have always heard what they wanted to. It provides a haunting refrain suggesting something ominous hangs in the air. While the original author and performers would , most likely, be repelled at any conservative appropriation of the song, its lingering sense of foreboding is apropos of our current political climate.

The next line "There's a man with a gun over there, telling me I got to beware" was written about the Los Angeles police. In a different time, at an earlier age, I could hear the same thing. But not now. My aged ears, with the volume cranked up by necessity, hear a different tune ; a warning about the overarching power, and disingenuous nature of our current Federal Government.

Later on the lyrics continue : "Paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep, It starts when you're always afraid, you step out of line, the man come and take you away." Paranoid I may be, but that sounds a lot like the Obama administration.

So it's time for we boomers to sit back, take off the back brace, flip off the loafers with the orthotics, pop the cork on that nice bottle of merlot, find the old record player (last used by the kids during their hip-hop phase), and put on Buffalo Springfield. The ambiance it provides is just right, because change is definitely in the air. A new day is coming. For what it's worth.