Millennial College Republicans, hey, it's me, your peer. What's up?

I know. You're about to go all, "ugh, another snowflake trying to silence me," on me. Be cool. That's not why I'm here. Because I don't want you not to have an opinion. I don't want you to feel like you can't express it. The one really great thing about the American tradition is that, at least in the ideal if not in practice, everyone, everyone, can express their thoughts and beliefs and opinions and all those other near-synonyms. That's how we learn and grow, guys! It's awesome!

But, from a liberal Independent to you guys, we gotta have a talk. Because there's some shit going on, and we gotta fix it.

We've been hearing it since we were kids-- we are the future. And us being the future is more and more turning into our present; we're entering an exiting college, getting jobs, becoming real shakers and movers and big-time thinkers and influencers. And that's awesome, guys! The only thing is that it's only really going to be awesome if we're better than the generation that came before us, and I'm really starting to worry that that isn't the case.

First of all, we can't be hardliners. No one can be. We've seen where hard-lining and going to the extremes of our ideologies has gotten us, also known as nowhere, all because of party gridlock in our government. That applies to millennial Democrats, too, I know, but this article is for you, so just internalize this and keep going. Learn the lesson from history, please, remember why we encourage free speech: you can learn from people you don't agree with and better understand the world and how you can better it yourself. So don't join the Old Guard just to make your dad happy for a minute; think for yourself, and think about the thoughts of others. This country was founded on compromise; remember that.

Second of all, Jesus Christ, you guys need to stop crying oppression. I'm gonna give you a hard truth right now, because you need to hear it-- you are not oppressed because you are a Republican, and if you really think you are, you've never experienced oppression in your life. You will never be arrested for being a Republican. You will never be forced out of your neighborhood for your political beliefs. Instead of writing a myriad of Odyssey articles on how oppressed you are, you should start trying to understand the struggles of actual oppressed groups-- like the LGBT+ community and people of color, groups that could agree with principles of small government and budget reform if the Republican party stopped disregarding and, as they've done historically, actively oppressing them, denying these groups rights and equal liberties. You can do it; you can be the generation of Republicans that makes the Republican party not hateful, that makes the party inclusive. Get rid of the evangelical bullshit and get back to what being a Republican is actually about-- promoting small government, keeping the government out of people's personal lives (including who they choose to marry... just saying)-- if that's what you believe in!

What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that the future of American politics is up to you. You can keep up the frequently-fracturing, Evangelical, bitter, prejudiced Republican party policies of now, or you can change the party to make it government-centered and inclusive and just better. It's up to you. Now you can be a baby and cry about how you feel like you can't express your opinion, or you can buck up and work to make this country a better place to live for all its citizens. So what are you gonna do?