There isn't a single American out there that would deny that our current political climate isn't what it should be. No matter what side of the fence you stand on, there are major changes that need to be made. I'm not here to talk about what needs to be done because ultimately that's up to who ends up in office. I'm here to talk about that, precisely. I'm here to discuss who runs for office, and why our generation needs to move away from our keyboard and protests and into the ballots on election day.

It seems as though most millennials are all talk and no action. It is far too often that we see someone on Facebook or twitter, mercilessly sharing something that's pertinent to a current issue in the world. I think it's great that our generation is talking. Talking is fantastic, but that isn't how change happens. Change happens when someone who likes to talk about the issues and problems in our society gets angry enough to run for office and be the change. Without that, there will be no change and only the same old cronies in office. To seek nomination from a political party, it only takes 300 signatures to be recognized. To run for Congress, it takes 1,000 signatures in most states. I could go on and on about requirements, but I'll leave that research up to those who feel the fire within them to run.

Change takes more than just hating the other side. You can hate Republicans, and you can hate Democrats. You can hate the Green Party, and you can hate the Libertarians. What you can't hate though, is that we live in a democracy. We live in a democracy that was founded upon the ideals that every person has a voice, a vote and the opportunity to be the peoples' choice to sit in office. We need more people that are willing to do more than angrily type away their feelings in hopes that someone will validate them. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this because there isn't. What is wrong with this whole philosophy is that there are people who genuinely believe change will come by doing so.

There is a generation gap between much of the population and today's politicians. The politicians of today are the people of the sixties and seventies. Many of them grew up with a different set of ideals than we did, and even a different set of ideals than our parents did. They are the weird generation that's a little too old to be our parents, but not quite old enough to be our grand parents. Many of them experienced economic prosperity during the financial boom of the eighties, and many of them went to college before it became a necessity and a burden of debt. They don't get it, and I wouldn't expect them to.

The change starts with us. Much of the reason I became so involved in politics at such a young age (I was nineteen when I took my first political internship during the 2014 election year) was that I didn't like the way things were being done. I didn't think it was fair that the majority of the time, we had no idea what was going on at the party level, so I made the change. As a director of social media and web communication, I made sure that at least once a week there was a newsletter sent out to all that would sign up for our email list of the current happenings in the party and the election cycle. Did it always work? Absolutely not. It required cooperation from many sides that weren't always cooperative. The point is, I made my best effort, and you should too. In 2015, I was very fortunate to intern with the state minority party. It was there that I met former state representative Dan Reilly and state representative Blake Fillipi, two men under forty that were making a difference and being the change that we need. It is with those two in office that I found more inspiration to pursue my goals as a young politician.

If you're going to complain, at least actively do something about what you're complaining about. If you don't like the health care system, study health care administration, educate yourself and find a way to work in health care policy. If you don't like the way the legal system works, find a way to become a judge. If you don't like the way the political climate is right now, run. Make changes, don't make excuses.