Millennials are defined as people who were born starting in the late 1970s to early 1980s (depending on who you ask), ranging to people born in the mid-1990s to early 2000s (again, depending on who you ask). It is estimated that there are 83.1 million Millennials in the United States of America. That is a lot of people, especially when you realize there are more Millennials than Baby Boomers. There are also more Millennials than people born in Generation X (65 million people). So why is a whole generation that has 65 million people (just as many as Generation X) who can vote being shut out of election polls? Why is that whole generation not being represented to help determine who is allowed on the debate stage? That is wrong on so many levels. The fact that CNN won’t poll anyone under 34 years of age is ludicrous and an insult to millions (and not just the people they shut out). There is more to the problem between the two generations before and Millennials, and it needs to stop. Millennials are just as capable of making decisions as people born right after World War II to the late 1970s. This year’s election is a perfect example.

Let’s get a little background on the other two generations before we dive in. Baby Boomers are people born between 1946 and 1964. That includes people who are ranging in age from 52 to 70 years of age. Generation X is made up of people born from the mid-1960s to late 1970s. Those people range from around the age of 37 to age 51. Baby Boomers have prided themselves as being a “special generation” while Generation X has been looked at, according to media outlets in the 1990s, as “slackers” and “unfocused”. Those two things sound quite familiar. In fact, you often hear Generation X talk about how Millennials are slackers and unfocused. My point is, no matter what, people are going to think the younger generation isn’t as good. That does not mean you take away that generation’s voice.

Millennials are perceived by many as “spoiled, incompetent brats”. The thing about making such an assumption is that the people who feel that way are the ones who raised us. Baby Boomers and Generation X both have given birth to Millennials. Millennials did not just come out of the womb and raise themselves to be that way. They had parents.

Now, before I go any further, I want to clear up that I feel my parents did a great job raising me and I love them dearly. They taught me right from wrong, how to achieve goals and how to work hard. I know a lot of people had parents who instilled that in them. I am not trying to sit here and bash on people who raised their kids because I have not the slightest clue on proper parenting. I am simply going to state some things that can be looked at in a different perspective to understand where my generation, whom seems to not get a proper voice, is coming from.

Us Millennials have or had parents. We have been dogged by generations before us about safe zones, receiving participation medals, and being spoiled. If that is the case, I would like to ask the two generations before us a few questions: why did you let it happen? Why did you reward us if we sucked? Why have you let us stay weak instead of toughen us up? Why did you so-called “spoil” us? I’m not making excuses. The older we get, the more we can change. But the foundation was set by the generation that has chosen to question our competence.

With that said, this generation may not be as incompetent as the previous two generations have thought. The 2016 Presidential Election has shown us this. While the previous two generations have had the most say in who will represent this country through polls and a two party system that has been in effect since the 1800s, our generation has tried to steer away from the insanity. Right now, we have two incompetent Baby Boomers running on the two major party tickets. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are both unpopular with Millennials (and a lot of the whole country). They also are somehow our nominees for president. While I will admit fault on the Millennials for not voting at as high of percentages as the other two generations, I will say there has been frustration on the side of Millennials that may prevent them from voting. Generations before Millennials love to tell people that are voting outside of the two-party realm that their vote is “wasted”. That is not true. You vote for who you think will do the best job. Millennials feel these other candidates would do a better job than the other two. Telling someone their vote is wasted on the grounds you don’t feel the candidate is going to win means you don’t care about them and their opinion. On the other hand, if you are voting for someone because you don’t want one person to win, then how is that not a “wasted” vote? You aren’t even voting for someone because you have confidence in them, but instead to be sure someone else doesn’t get in. Millennials vote for who they want, not for someone to fail. Because of this, there have been two major candidate sensations this election year. One is the wave that was Bernie Sanders. Many Millennials “felt the Bern”, and many still do. He was knocked out of the Democratic nomination under questionable circumstances and the nomination was somehow won by Hillary Clinton. Clinton was not popular with Millennials (and still isn’t) and was able to win the nomination after a record turnout of Millennial voters. The other major wave that is still making its way through the election is the support for the Libertarian Party candidate, Gary Johnson. Johnson has yet to get into the debates, but there has also been controversy on that front. A CNN poll in which Johnson has pretty good polling numbers to begin with excluded people under the age of 34, also known as Millennials. Their reasoning: “Millennials are too small of a share of the population”. Oh, you mean the generation bigger than both the Baby Boomers and Generation X? Seems accurate to me. CNN literally stripped an entire generation of a voice. It also didn’t help that the voice they stripped favors Governor Johnson and could’ve put him over the 15% mark (which is the average percentage required to get into the debates) in one of the five polls needed.

While Sanders and Johnson have different viewpoints and platforms, there is one thing that Millennial voters see in both of them. Both candidates represent true change, something that Millennials want. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. There has not been change for quite some time. How have the previous two generations changed the lack of change? By repeatedly voting for the two major party candidates. How have the Millennials attempted to change it? By voting outside of the normal two party system. They have even changed the way they do it by supporting two vastly different candidates and coming out in record numbers. They have even been able to make these decisions with lack of media coverage of candidates that aren’t the two party norm (darn Millennials and their internet research savvy).

The incompetence does not lie with the Millennials. It lies with the “likely voters” who continually reject the notion of a true difference maker. The likely voters that are actually polled:Baby Boomers and Generation X. Clinton has the same visions as two of the three presidents before her. What has changed since 1992 in this country that makes her such a heads above candidate? Not to mention her incredible flip-flopping on views throughout her time in public office. Trump has no experience, which the Baby Boomers and Generation X have asked us Millennials to have before applying for even an entry level job, but don’t mind that the potentially most powerful person in the United States doesn’t have any. That’s competence, right? They have continued to look for a solution in the same two places for decades. It would be like me looking for my lost keys on the same empty table all day. It is time for change, and that is exactly what Millennials are looking for and they are looking in every nook and cranny. From Socialism to Libertarianism, there are young people looking high and low. What are the two generations before us looking for? To keep going down the same road of spending, piling debt, global tension and not fixing problems here at home in our country?

There needs to be change and Millennials are trying. They are looking for alternatives and their voices are being shut out. Freedoms are being taken away and things aren’t getting better. Millennials are much smarter and competent than Baby Boomers and Generation X think. What Millennials need is for others to see that this country needs change, not insanity. The only way that can happen is giving us Millennials a voice. If they keep shutting us out, then nothing will change. It has been shown time and time again with the two-party, old fashioned thinking. To those in the previous generations that have woken up and seen what alternatives can do to actually help stop the insanity, thank you. You have shown an open mind in a time this country needs it most. To the people who keep looking at Clinton and Trump to save us, good luck. Voting for them will put one in the loss column for our country. But hey, like you have taught us before, losers can still get something they want. That’s why you gave us a participation trophy. Just think of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton as your big shiny participation trophy if they get elected.