CNN posted the results of a CNN/ORC poll which said that 54% of Americans opposed same-sex marriage. That sounds like good news for Republicans. Hawking family-values plays exactly to the sympathies of most Americans, so let's keep doing it, right?
Wrong. Exactly wrong.
"But among those 18 to 34 years old, 58 percent said same-sex marriages should be legal. That number drops to 42 percent among respondents aged 35 to 49, and to 41 percent for those aged 50 to 64. Only 24 percent of Americans 65 and older support recognizing same-sex marriages, according to the poll."And there, plain for the world to see, is your generational gap. Nearly 3 in 5 people age 18 to 34 believe same-sex marriage should be legal. Sure, say what you want about the liberalism of youth, but pop culture being what it is today, I don't see these numbers changing all that drastically. Put another way, in 17 years when all of the 18-to-34s are 35-to-51s, I'm guessing that north of 55% of them will still believe that gay marriage should be legal. Imagine what the 18-34s will believe 17 years from now!
Most prominent Republicans don't fall into the 18-34 demographic, however, and have lost touch with it. Republicans have a strange way of taking pride in the history of this country and seem to be constantly trying to make its future more like its past. Unfortunately most members of Congress seem to be missing one critical piece of information: the future of this country will not see them in office, it will see them in memoriam.
I am fortunate enough to be a member of that generation that will see both the death and the rebirth of the Republican Party in my lifetime. Most Congressmen, unfortunately, are not able to say that much. They will only see the demise of the GOP. If they're lucky, if they're smart, they will leave the generation behind them something to build upon. And when we rebuild the GOP (a name which we will most certainly get rid of), the very first thing we will do is drop the old-world moral assumptions that seemed to be at the very core of the Republican Party before its demise, assumptions to which the GOP clung fervently even in the throes of death.
And why will we do this? Because we understand that there is a contradiction inherent in the GOP as it stands today. Today's conservative lawmakers would have us believe that a small government is good, except when we're talking about moral dissenters. Today's conservatives would have us believe that government has no business meddling in our day-to-day affairs, unless we are either breaking the law or diverge from their moral standards. I don't mean that as a condemnation; it is perfectly acceptable to believe that government should uphold the morality of its citizens in order to better the citizenry, but that view is incompatible with a) the foundation of conservative political philosophy, and b) any claim that conservatives may have to the future of American politics.
As for that contradiction, I will open the issue for discussion now and cover it in more detail later. It may be true that I am suggesting a more Libertarian system of political philosophy, though I have yet to encounter a definition of Libertarianism that suits my particular political beliefs. I will say this: the standard definition of Libertarianism is both economically conservative and socially liberal. I am not suggesting that future Republicans be the latter; rather I am suggesting that we hold true to the core beliefs of small government and not allow moral judgments to cloud our political way of thinking. Let homosexuals (and stem cell researchers, and seekers of abortions, et cetera) live their lives without governmental intrusion to the extent that they do so legally, the same way that we desire to live. This is consistent with our beliefs and, more to the point, it is compatible with the future of American politics.
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