We were raised in the middle of a political hurricane.

Our childhoods came with breaking news alerts: lockdowns, impeachments, mass shootings, a pandemic, and presidents tweeting threats in real time. We never saw the so-called “good old days.” We learned early that politics wasn’t some distant, dignified machine — it was messy, volatile, and often cruel.

So, it’s no surprise that trust is in freefall. Only 22% of Americans believe the federal government will do the right thing most of the time. Among young people, it’s even worse. We trust each other more than we trust the people running the country — 74% of us believe in our peers and neighbors, but just 37% trust Congress. Political parties? Still waiting.

We came of age in the era of Donald Trump, when “fake news” became a weapon, d

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