College is the breeding ground for great new ideas that will improve the lives of those all around the world. The arena of politics is no exception.

On campuses around the country today you wouldn’t have to strain to hear some lucid, respectful and engaging political debate at any given time.

The best part about this perpetual discourse is the fact that not everyone agrees. Actually, very few people agree on a given subject. There is no evidence of bias in conviction and students don’t exhibit any blind faith to their political beliefs at all.

Disagreement is not only accepted, it is welcomed with open arms. If one has different views than another, both enjoy providing evidence to explain how they arrived at their various conclusions and will not simply attempt to prove each other “wrong”. That is because no one sees any given opinion as incorrect, but rather only as different. Political diversity is sought after as equally as social diversity. Differences are heralded, not avoided.

Political activism always leads to more new great ideas. This is precisely why you hear something new every day.

One can only hope that the political environment of the college campus would be accepted more broadly in society today as, say, a technological innovation would be.

If the campus was a true microcosm of the rest of the world, we would be in much better shape than we are now. Conflicts, poverty and suffering would be extinguished overnight and, in the words of John Lennon, the world would live as one.

Mark Stoffer

Senior in ACES