This past weekend I went to Las Vegas. The trip commemorated a friend’s 21st birthday. I normally hate Vegas (drinking, gambling, clubs all disagree with me). This trip however, was extremely fun! I realized the success of this adventure was because of my crew of friends. They are all intelligent, low maintenance, fun people. But, they are ALL conservative.
I am a fervent liberal, and proud. I can understand (though I disagree with) fiscal conservatives. Personally, I think trickle-down economic theories are a joke, but hey, whatever floats your boat. What I can’t stand however, are social conservatives. Especially ones my age. Get a clue.
However, I rarely encounter young social conservatives. During the car ride back from Las Vegas we entered into a fairly animated political discussion. It was intelligent and respectful. We surprisingly had a lot in common.
Don’t get me wrong, they HATE Obama. They HATE Obamacare. Sure, they give Obama some credit for increasing our international standing, but after the Bush years…
GWB or a Baby? You decide…
a toddler could have enhanced the perception of America on the world stage. But, these young men aren’t against Gay Marriage. They aren’t anti-abortion either. If anything, they wish their party would let go of its antiquated social views. However, my friends vote along with their fiscal beliefs.
After the argument peaked and calmed, we began to discover our common ground. The common ground lay in apathy. None of us have any faith in either party. Sure, I’ll vote for Obama, and they for Romney, but we do not have faith in either (or congress for that matter) to positively influence our domestic society in drastic ways.
Same Joke, Different Party
As we began to digress into a religious discussion, we began to find even more common ground. My friends (who strongly identify as Christian) and I, a proud cultural Jew… don’t really care. We agree that religion does good for society by setting a high moral standard. We also agree that after thousands of religions have come and gone, it takes an extremely conceited opinion to think yours is the “one true faith,” with the “one true god.”
2000 years ago, the Greeks and Romans were “sure” of their polytheistic faith. Now, we laugh at them…. 2000 years from now Humans may be laughing at Christianity and Judaism… why would we be any different?
Finding such a large common ground with my different ideologically-minded contemporaries was comforting. We’re apathetic. We have lost faith in the magic of American society. Despite our different backgrounds we had such similar opinions. Politics? Joke. Religion? Joke. The beautiful part came at the end: we all share a huge amount of pride in both America and Humanity. We believe in human beings, flaws and all.
It is common for the youthful generation to be rebellious. It is common for them to embrace counterculture. BUT, with the connective fiber that now runs though society in the form of the Internet, this embrace of counterculture is different than ever before. Society is becoming participatory AND transparent simultaneously. We the people have access to instantaneous truths and information, while we can also create and share with communities in ways never before possible. Physical geography is becoming irrelevant. Are many of the other mainstays of society becoming outdated and irrelevant as well? Perhaps religion in its current form? Perhaps government in its current form? I believe so.
I am incredibly excited for my generation to continue assuming more power in society. Hopefully, with it will come great change. Being surrounded by such intelligent and forward thinking individuals is a blessing. The future holds many great things.
That is what I left Vegas thinking. And that is why it was a great weekend.
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blown out speaker 