With election season in full swing, I have seen it all: ads for candidates that really should have just saved their money on the advertising and bought something worthwhile, and a host of other things.

The candidates for many races, including United States president all the way down to local races, have sparked my attention.

To begin with, I think the younger voting generation (which most college students belong to) needs to wake up and vote for the younger, fresher candidates.

Not only do the young candidates have fresher and more innovative ideas, they are in the know about what is going on in this day and age.

Here locally, we are losing an older mayor (who has done a pretty good job), and currently the candidates seem to be older. This is a college town, and personally I think it should be led by a younger person.

Obviously, the older politician types have a monopoly on the government because a few weeks ago when I was at Higher Education Day in Montgomery, the bulk of the politicians were old, and I mean really old.

In Alabama, we have had a tough few years with budget cuts to higher education, a racist immigration law, and many lawmakers who have sat around and done nothing to fix the current condition of our state.

We desperately need a younger generation of lawmakers and leaders to lead this country, state and city into the future.

I am tired of seeing old-grandpa types lead this country into the ground. It is time that lawmakers stop taking kickbacks and worry about being reelected and lead this country; it’s what they were elected for to begin with.

Watching these old, tired men and women complain about each other reminds me of sitting on my grandparents’ porch as they yell at the Fox News pundits. The lawmakers that constantly complain and are unable to get work done have got to stop.

Old, washed-up lawmakers who are constantly abusing the system and breaking the system that our forefathers built need to shape up or ship out.

Although Alabama has one of the most educated state legislatures in the nation—with about 81 percent of its legislators pursuing college degrees—the state still obviously is lacking legislators with common sense and responsibility.

The United States, State of Alabama and City of Florence need younger leadership badly. For the love of all that is good and holy, please band together and get some younger leadership in our government.

One day, the general public’s inability to get some positive young thinkers into office will come back to haunt everyone.

To contact Josh, call 256-765-4296 or you can follow him on Twitter at @joshskaggs.