In two weeks I will graduate from Wheeling High School. It is going to be a day to remember for the rest of my life. My principal will hand me a diploma, but that diploma is also an invoice for $870,000 - my share of America's 2012 debt burden. The average American earns $1.3 million during their working career. When we factor in future deficit spending and interest, every single high school student owes the federal government more than they will ever earn in their lifetime. Since the day I was born, the United States has accrued eleven trillion dollars worth of new debt; and for those eighteen years of my existence, I haven't even had a say in it.

Last August, as I watched our divided government tear our democracy apart, my friend Mike Diamond and I decided to take action against Washington's disregard for the future of this country. 

It all began as an idea, to speak for our generation, the one who will be paying for Washington's massive debts and deficits.