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There are a thousand reasons for Gen Z to be angry right now. As we usher in a new year and a new presidential administration, the nation’s two dominant political parties have yet to put our interests front and center. Solutions to issues like climate change, the housing crisis, and the cost of higher education remain little more than campaign rhetoric.

Our voices also haven’t been prioritized in the national debate, which is unsurprising given our lack of political representation. According to NBC News, the 119th U.S. Congress is the third-oldest in our nation’s history, and December races for congressional committee posts—largely viewed as a litmus test for future Democratic party leadership—yielded few appointments for members under 40 years old. The GOP has attracted more and more young voters (especially young men) in the most recent election, but the party has yet to fully engage them in formulating its platform. The very people inheriting this country are left out of shaping its future.

I was born in 2008, and from what I’ve seen, many in my generation aren’t holding their breath. Countless headlines laud our activism, and predict radical political transformation once we come of age. We’ve led student movements for climate action, fought for racial justice, and revolutionized the use of social media as a tool for social change. We’re opinionated, informed, and growing rapidly as a portion of the electorate: In the 2024 election, more than 40 million members of Gen Z were eligible to vote, with 8 million having turned 18 since the 2022 midterms.

Yet, the overall youth share of the vote in presidential elections (14 percent in 2024) has steadily declined since 2016, when it was 19 percent, and 2020, when it was 17 percent. Last November, only 42 percent of eligible voters aged 18 to 29 showed up at the polls, compared to about half just four years earlier. We’re indisputably a force to be reckoned with in American politics, but what’s missing is our actual votes. Disillusioned and disaffected with a broken system, some are tuning out entirely.

When I spoke with peers over........

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