Depends on what you call “hippies” for instance the last great Christian revival in America, and the religious right, and Calvary church all came largely from hippies, real hippies were not becoming PHDs and earning law degrees, or even involved in politics, and it was largely about getting back to the land, and going Galt.
I wonder if your friends are really longing for more politicized Yippies than gun owning hippies of the early Mother Earth News period.
You are correct. The people I know from bay area, CA long for the protests, social freedoms, the concerts and pot.
As I point out to them, they once wanted gov’t to just leave them alone, but now they want to force their social agendas on everyone else. So they have become what they were protesting against.