I’m fired up.

Today’s Washington Post has a piece about the state of the young conservative movement, and it doesn’t look pretty. According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, nearly twice as many people under the age of 30 identify themselves as Democrats as opposed to Republicans.

While the young conservatives interviewed in the article hold the experienced members of the Republican Party accountable for the scarcity of passionate young Republicans, I see the problem as more of a double-edged sword.

It is true that the GOP, as the major party representing conservative philosophy, has done frustratingly little to attract the youth vote and cultivate the future of the movement. However, young conservatives must take some responsibility for the lack of attention that they are receiving from the “old guard.” Historically, the youth vote has been notoriously unreliable, which has resulted in both major parties favoring the middle aged and elderly. With the rise of Barack Obama, young liberals have become increasingly active and have recruited an increasing number of formerly apathetic twenty-somethings to their ranks. This has resulted in a rise in the influence of young liberals within the Democratic Party.

While some may argue that the recent boom in liberal youth activism is a result of Obama’s appeal to the youth vote, I would argue that it is a result of an enthusiasm for liberal causes in general that has evolved over time.

More of the young people that I know in D.C. are associated with “liberal” activist groups than conservative ones. And many of these groups, such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace, have nothing to do with Barack Obama.

During my time as a college activist (I’m 23 now and barely two years out of college), one of the biggest frustrations that I found with the conservative groups I was involved with was the depressing lack of activity. Oh sure, we would meet and discuss the election or watch a new conservative documentary, but all we were really doing was preaching to the choir. When election season rolled around, my fellow campus conservatives would do nothing worthy of recognition by the Republican Party, and simply sat on the political sideline for the rest of the campaign. They would then wonder why they were unable to obtain more recognition and influence.

The answer, as it turns out, is pretty simple: in politics, you don’t get something for nothing. If you want influence, you have to do something to earn it. Just because you have a conservative group does not mean a conservative candidate is going to magically appear and beg you to run his campaign. You have to prove that you are worth the investment. It does absolutely no good to sit around and agree with each other, which is exactly what most campus conservative groups do on a weekly basis.

As much as it pains me to admit, young liberals get it. They understand that doing the grunt work - attending rallies, knocking on doors, sweating in the heat of the day to register just one person to vote - is the way to gain influence with party leadership. For some reason, many young conservatives don’t understand this. We want to attend the nice dinners, stand on the rope lines, and basically live the “West Wing” insider fantasy. Well, here’s the honest truth: you don’t just become an insider. You claw and scratch your way in. No one is going to hold the door open for you to just walk through, you have to break it down.

While the young conservatives profiled in the Washington Post piece are some of the best examples of what a young conservative should be, the setting of the story is emblematic of the problem with the movement. The group is made up of all conservatives who are sitting together at a bar and lamenting the state of the relationship between young people and the Republican Party. They’re not doing anything, but drinking beer and talking amongst themselves.

It’s time for young conservatives to wake up. The Party is not like your parents - it is not going to love you unconditionally. You have to do something to earn its love and respect. So, stop complaining about your lack of influence and take it by force. If you take initiative and refuse to be ignored, then the Party and the conservative establishment will have no choice but to stand up and take notice.