The polarization and fracturing of our politics is dividing us along lines that leave millions of young Americans with nowhere to turn. 71 percent of millennials believe that neither party represents them. And for good reason.
Both parties have placed our nation on an unsustainable fiscal course, and one generation of Americans is about to leave the next generations with an unbearable financial burden. The national debt is more than $20 trillion, with unfunded liabilities exceeding $100 trillion. Report after report warns of wasteful spending and unsustainable deficits, yet year after year nothing is done to address them. If this continues, millennials and generation Z will spend their peak earnings years paying for the excesses and promises they had no knowledge of or say in.
However, this is not an unsolvable problem. It’s a grand opportunity.
Instead of throwing up our hands in disgust and accepting whatever future our current lawmakers have in store, we believe that it’s time for our generation to actively strive for a better future.
Pursuit is a group of young Americans that are focused on a set of common values that should unite us. While we will not agree on every issue, we believe we can unify around these basic principles that will help our generation secure a better tomorrow:
- Generational theft must be stopped: If left unaddressed, the national debt and unfunded liabilities will fundamentally reshape our futures. Regardless of whether you are a progressive, conservative, independent, or just don’t care, the economic impacts of our fiscal problems will be felt by the entire generation. We must speak up and tell our policymakers that we are not going to foot their bill.
- Our government must be held accountable: With more than $5 trillion worth of decisions being made in Washington DC every year, transparency and oversight is critical to making sure our resources are going towards projects that are in the national interest, rather than squandered on special interests. Many of us grew up with immediate answers to every question in the palm of our hand. The same should be true of our tax dollars.
- Our discourse must be objective and informed: America has neither an expiration date nor a guaranteed existence. We have rights as citizens – but we also have duties to secure this project by staying informed and engaged. That includes understanding our history, civics, and free enterprise system and making sure that a full understanding is passed onto the next generations.
Millennials are the largest generation of Americans. Our interests are the least represented in Washington. We believe it’s time for that to change.