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The “deficit of trust” that alienates Washington from the American people runs in both directions: Washington, with good reason, distrusts its constituents. That distrust is not automatic – it is earned, just as a liar or a thief earns the distrust of his victim.

Rulers have always felt that their subjects are ignorant; for most of human history, they were right. Peasants had no business learning reading, writing or arithmetic. Information was only as fast as the nearest messenger.

For 99% of human history, one could be excused for failing to know how government functions or understand the truth behind his political opinions.

Not today.

A recent Pew poll showed that only 26 percent of all Americans know that 60 votes are required to break a Senate filibuster. A quarter believe that a simple majority can break a Senate filibuster, and 37 percent simply gave up on the question.

I wonder how many of these people have an encyclopedic knowledge of pro football or basketball, yet cannot understand how politicians run their country and spend their tax dollars.

This world is flooded with information. If we are the future of the United States of America, we have a responsibility – much more than a right – not only to participate in politics, but to understand politics. We are extraordinarily lucky to have that ability, and it would be extraordinarily ungrateful to let it go fallow.

Our generation has a more intimate relationship with the Internet than any other; we have grown with it, yet we remember a time without it. I am confident that we will use that unique perspective toward information to restore this nation and, perhaps, begin to mend the trust deficit that has always separated leaders and citizens.