If millennials want to change the system, they can

The partial shutdown of the federal government has left nearly every American feeling disheartened about the state of American politics. But the millennial generation, wrote journalist Ron Fournier in the National Journal, are "highly empowered, impatient, and disgusted with politics today." What's more, he observed, they don't fit naturally into the Republican-Democratic divide.

For the generation hit hardest by financial woes and a lack of economic mobility, this latest government snafu may represent a breaking point, Fournier argued in a different piece in The Atlantic. He wrote that the familiar criticisms of they millennials — that "they're narcissistic, coddled, and lazy, not to mention spoiled" — mask some positive attributes: "The largest and most diverse generation in U.S. history is goal-oriented, respects authority and follows rules."

And it knows how to use computers. Fournier wrote:

Speaking of technology, Millennials witnessed, embraced, and in some cases instigated massive disruptions of the music, television, movie, media, and retail industries. The most supervised and entitled generation in human history, they have no patience for inefficiency, stodgy institutions or the status quo. Consider what they could do to politics and government. ... The good news is they want to serve.

How might millennials transform government in the coming years, and what will a new system look like?

LEARN MORE ABOUT MILLENNIALS:

• 5 Things You Think You Know About Millennials... Fact Checked!
Looking at 15 years of Pew data, on average only 28% of Millennials identified as liberal. An identical 28% identified as conservative. In fact, moderates led the way at 38%. As compared to the general population and other generations, Millennials do trend left. Just not overwhelmingly. (Third Way Think Tank)

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