In 1776, three powerful words, “Taxation without representation!,” incited a small faction of brave American colonists to take up arms against the world’s greatest superpower, the British Empire. In this old regime, our early forefathers were politically voiceless and therefore unable to influence how the State spent its money. Yet they were still taxed to pay for government expenses that they never approved or voted for. In order to ensure that none of their descendants would ever undergo that same injustice, these colonists established a new, democratic society where the government would serve the interest of the nation’s citizens, both contemporary and future, not the other way around.
Nevertheless, 235 years and 15 trillion dollars later, the United States government has abandoned that moral foundation, instead preferring to pile all its expenses on top of the only demographic in this nation largely without a vote — youth and future citizens. Through record annual deficits and unsustainable debt, this President and members of his ideological faction have passed on the ruinous results of their fiscal irresponsibility to future generations (which never voted for or approved such financial imprudence). Just as the British Empire did not consider the needs or grievances of its colonists when drafting legislation, this current administration no longer takes into account the adverse affects its actions will have on American citizens in years to come. Whether debating energy policy, immigration policy, tax rates, or federal spending, this government does not consider our future prosperity to be an important priority, yet they still expect us to pay for their fiscal malfeasance after we reach adulthood.
When the British crown began abusing their repressed subjects across the Atlantic, our forefathers rose up and produced the Declaration of Independence in order to voice their demands and needs. Today we, the youth of America, are the repressed subjects that are witnessing our future prosperity being mortgaged away due to our current government’s inability to live within its means. Hopefully by outlining bold, new conservative reforms for the nation’s future, this organization can be our Declaration of Independence. We want to restore the voice and hope of America’s youth and lead us on to victory in our revolution against “deficits without representation!”
Due to their lack of interest in politics, or view that it is a subject reserved for much older people, many young citizens have willingly lost their political voice. However, the decisions being made on Capitol Hill today affect youth more than ever before, and thus even students without much interest in politics should speak up for the sake of defending their future success. Currently, forty cents out of every dollar spent by the federal government is borrowed money, meaning almost half of government spending is put aside for young citizens to pay off. Every time liberals advocate saving another billion in government programs, young Americans will be forced to shovel over about half of that cost.
Even if those who cannot vote yet, our bloated federal government and its ever-increasing annual deficits are negatively affecting their economic future right now, and the youth should take action against it as soon as possible. In addition to burdening young Americans with its bloated expenses, a larger government stands in the way of every youth’s greatest aspiration: freedom!
Having endured the rules enforced by one’s parents, teachers, or relatives since birth, all teenagers and young adults look forward with anticipation to the time when they graduate and become independent of those regulations. Yet, as soon as they leave their parents’ houses and depart from the observant watch of their elders, American youth today face an even more intrusive force: the government. Whether imposing new taxes, increasing our energy costs, regulating our businesses, or choosing which products we can purchase, the government significantly reduces the freedom and individuality that youth anticipate and long for as they grow older. While the restrictions placed on youth by their parents have the ultimate purpose of keeping them safe, the actions of this current government have had the opposite effect by failing to secure our borders, support our allies, or distinguish between conflicts that protect our national interest and those that do not.
Young Americans cannot fight this battle against expansive government and deficits alone. Remembering those previous generations of Americans, who fought and died bravely on battlefields, foreign and domestic, to preserve prosperity and opportunity for their children, we, the young citizens of the United States, call upon today’s adults to act with similar vigor to dispel this latest threat against our futures. This time the battles that will determine America’s path are not going to be fought on the dusty plains of a far away land but instead in the streets and buildings of her own Capitol where the latest threat to this nation’s sovereignty has been hatched.
The United States now faces a internal threat more destructive than any external adversary we have ever conquered. Born and reared from years of expansive government and liberal leadership, our unsustainable debt and unproductive economy threaten to destroy the same American legacy that our ancestors died trying to preserve. In the immortal words of President Reagan:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
Together let us make certain that no parent ever has to tell that story to their child, and no child ever has to grow up in a world where America is no longer that shining city on a hill. Whether you utilize your vote or your voice, collectively we can remove the perpetrators of our current demise from positions of power and elect new, conservative representatives, committed to defending America’s future through the reforms listed that will preserve an enduring freedom.
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