One month ago we had our midterm elections, and for conservatives, they were incredibly successful. The Republican Party won the majority in the Senate, giving them control over both houses of Congress. On election night, I was at Governor Sam Brownback’s watch party in Topeka, Kansas. Some friends and I were involved in his campaign, and we were invited to attend what we hoped would be—and turned out to be—his victory party. We all expected to be the youngest people there by about twenty or thirty years. The Republican Party is considered the party of old, white, rich men, and from what we had seen of the polls, that stereotype had tended to be true. So when we arrived at the party, we were fully expecting to be the “kids” of the night.

When we walked in the room, we realized our expectations had been completely wrong. Out of the few hundred people there, half were in their 20s and 30s. There were even some young couples, and a few middle-aged parents had brought their young children. Some of the children were running around, providing entertainment for the old couples, and a couple toddlers wandered around, taking it all in. Rather than being the exception like we thought we were going to, my friends and I blended right in. We had been fighting to gain a younger Republican voter demographic, and we were seeing the success we thought would take years to accomplish being lived out in the same room with us.

We didn’t just blend in because we were young, either. We also blended in as young activists. The main reason my friends and I are Republican is, of course, because of the pro-life issue—we cannot, will not support any person or party that thinks abortion is a good idea. When Senator Pat Roberts gave his victory speech, everyone cheered at each point he made. But when he talked about protecting all citizens of the United States and specifically mentioned the unborn, the cheering was louder than it had been, and it was the younger people who cheered the most. The pro-life issue has entered the younger generations, and we are gladly taking charge. Some of us are even going straight to the political floor, not even waiting until we’re older—in West Virginia, the winner of a representatives race was a thoroughly pro-life 18 year-old college freshman. Our generation is the one that has been affected the most by pro-abortion laws and policies like Obamacare, and we know that, more than anyone else, we are the ones who need to fight them.

For decades now, older people have been trying to get younger ones involved in political pro-life issues. We know that we are the strength and voice of the cause, and that it is up to us to change the things that have negatively affected us. So we have taken up the responsibility and the leadership and are paving the way to a more pro-life and generally conservative political future. When the returning and newly-elected Republican politicians take their seats in the chambers of Congress, they will know that it is because of the young generation that they are there, and that we elected them to be our voice. And when the pro-life issues come up, they will know what we want them to do, and that we will not accept anything but the best. We cannot, we will not allow the country to continue the way it has been going, and we know it is up to us to stop it.

As we return to our daily lives after Thanksgiving and enter Advent and the new year, we can all be a bit more hopeful than we may have been able to be in the past few years. The younger generation is stepping up, and doing it well.

Media Source: Kansas City Star