College students hate our broken politics. But we’re partly to blame.

Many young people lament the broken, polarized politics we stand to inherit. But do we have the courage to change them?

On a Monday morning this summer, feeling the lazy buzz of Washington heat, I showed up early to an event hosted by the Harvard Institute of Politics at the Republican National Committee. I was a tad early, so I sat in the cooled lobby to wait.

The minutes ticked by, yet no one came. This was new. At other Harvard Institute of Politics events this summer, there was always...