Our legacies on this Beautiful Earth are inextricably tied to the work we do, the principles we stand for and the messages we spread. The apathetic nature of many of my peers nowadays is heresy to the nth degree, and we can no longer stand idly by and watch young people refusing to talk about the hard issues. If we’re to make any progress and maintain this More Perfect Union, we had better get our act together and stand and fight for the things we believe in.

It comes with a price, however. We must be informed. We must read the arguments of the other side, debate them and reformulate our stance given the new evidence. In the same way Newton used this inductive methods to formulate his three famous Natural Laws, we must start with a problem we observe in our society, generalize a solution in the form of legislation, judicial action or grassroots campaigning, and revise our message as new information becomes available.

It is not enough to let Gov majors, English majors and law students run the country, making sweeping decisions about how we may live our lives. It is not enough to defer to those with means and wealth – those with the ability to run a traditional campaign for public office and influence those in public office – in fact, it is the worst offense to this Great Nation to allow the aristocracy of special interets to continue determining the rule of law. We must stand up, as citizens, and fight for what sparks fire in our bellies! We must stand up, as citizens, and say “enough is enough” to special interests and lobbyists who control Washington. Now is our time. If our country is to change for the better, it will be because we – the citizens – made our voices heard and fought with much gnashing of teeth for what we believe in and what we know is right.

This is the imperative of our generation. Let us act!

This post was originally published on Medium.