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“Breaking the System” an Excerpt from The End of the Alphabet

Today, America’s teenagers and young adults are looking around at the state of our Union and are collectively understanding that the culture our parents and predecessors have built for us is not the future we want to live in. We are refusing to embrace culture’s prescribed pathways presented to us for success and happiness, be it obtaining a four-year degree in gender studies in order for us to find ourselves, climbing the corporate ladder through undying loyalty to the first company who hires us, or propping up the extreme ends of the two-party political system that our Founders warned against. Spoiler alert: American culture is becoming less “exceptional” by the day (and I am sharing this with you as someone who is deeply proud to be an American). The fast track to fame and fortune, health and happiness is not leading us where it’s supposed to.

Rather than accepting our fate of mediocrity and misery, Gen Z is forging our own path, unafraid to challenge the status quo and intentionally “work smarter, not harder.” We’re changing culture from the inside out through every opportunity possible and creating a stronger future in the process. We’re breaking the wheel to end the cycle of insanity that America has fallen into. Like every teenager feeling rebellious against their parents, we are rebelling against the world our parents built for us to pioneer our own avenue. While far too many who came before us bemoan any trajectory into the future and instead argue it’s time for America to return to the “good ol’ days” of decades past, Gen Z understands a fundamental truth: we have shifted so substantially in culture and reality that “going back” isn’t possible. Instead, it’s time for us to embrace traditional values with a new-age twist, carrying us into the future instead of living in the past. After all, if life as we know it has fundamentally evolved into something unrecognizable, it’s going to take a whole new playbook to get us back to reality.

Maybe breaking the wheel is exactly what we need.

A Division of the Republic

The rise of Gen Z into the political sphere presents perhaps the greatest threat to the two major parties America has ever encountered, at least since our forefathers. Dubbed by many as the “politically homeless” generation, we are overwhelmingly rejecting the idea that the only choices concerning political leadership are associated with a red “R” or a blue “D.”6 Nor are we embracing America’s existing third-party options, either—instead of trading the Republicans and Democrats for Libertarians or Green Party candidates, Gen Z is coupling our fierce cultural independence with our newfound political identity as we continue growing up.

Today, as you already know, over half of us are identifying ourselves as politically Independent, according to a recent Gallup poll. Moreover, nearly half of 18- to 49-year-olds wish there were more parties to choose from in American politics beyond the two-party powerhouses and our limited third-party alternatives, as Pew Research Center found.7 It shows in how we’re voting, too—while Gen Z often leans left in our voting patterns, we’re trending more conservative over time and turning out to vote beyond expectations with every major national election—meaning we’re showing up to make our voices heard and we’re pulling America back toward the middle in the midst of increasing partisanship.

Gen Z is repeatedly gravitating toward candidates and policies that are not singularly owned by a party, but those that are willing to lead even when it’s politically inconvenient. Instead of blindly backing a politician or ballot initiative based on the letter next to their name every November, we’re reminding Washington that our government works for the people—not the other way around. If those in power want Gen Z’s support, they are going to have to earn it through following through on far-too-often empty promises on the campaign trail, be willing to break free from party demands, and be able to prove how a policy is going to tangibly impact culture.

Better yet, we’re refusing to wait for partisan politicians who have been in office for decades to finally wake up and change the system, so we’re running for office ourselves. In 2022, Maxwell Frost (D-FL) became the first Gen Zer elected to the United States House of Representatives. At the same time, my friend and former White House colleague Karoline Leavitt was running to become the youngest person ever elected to Congress out of the great state of New Hampshire as a Republican. Truly, two people could not be more different—Maxwell has been described as a Green New Deal supporter and formerly worked as an activist for March for Our Lives, encouraging politicians to adopt drastic gun control measures.8 Karoline worked as a communications staffer in the Trump White House and later on Capitol Hill and wants to reduce the power and scope of the federal government. Yet the pair has something shocking in common: despite having dramatically juxtaposed political perspectives, both Maxwell and Karoline faced opposition from leading, powerful Democrats and Republicans alike.

Maxwell’s crowded primary race in the Orlando area involved a fight against nine other Democrats, including sitting State Senator Randolph Bracy and other former Florida representatives. 9 Leftist political organizers called for a withdrawal of support for the candidate after he accepted a donation from a Crypto PAC with a history of supporting pro-Israel candidates, despite his overwhelming public support for Palestinian political causes.10 Others suggested he may be unfit to hold office because he was forced to finance a significant portion of his campaign with credit cards, tanking his credit rating and making it difficult to rent an apartment in Washington, DC.11 Despite running with the supposed “party of youth,” many Democrats repeatedly embraced opportunities to hold Maxwell’s youth against him, indicating a stronger generational power divide on Capitol Hill than one between parties.

Similarly, Karoline’s primary race was a difficult one in her New Hampshire hometown. Running against former Trump State Department official Matt Mowers, Karoline often found herself on the receiving end of attacks against her based primarily on age from top Republican voices. A Kevin McCarthy–affiliated super PAC known as the Congressional Leadership Fund spent nearly $2 million in the primary to boost Karoline’s opponent and tear her down.12 One Mowers primary ad specifically targeted Karoline as “woke, immature and irresponsible.” Tell me you’re worried about a new generation of conservatives stealing the spotlight without telling me, GOP. Of course, fighting against the machine paid off, and Karoline won her primary race before unfortunately losing in the general election (to everyone’s surprise, based on Election Day polling).

As Gen Z continues to grow up and embrace the call to lead, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that those leading the overwhelmingly Divided States of America through the two major political parties are obsessed with retaining power, no matter what the consequences may be. Perhaps today’s divide is far less about partisanship than we believed, though, and indicates a generational divide that’s much more frightening. If we are to truly heed the foreshadowed warnings of our Founders, I believe that it starts with acknowledging this growing divide and encouraging politically independent thought—or at least, an opportunity for a new generation of leadership in the midst of those who have held on to power for far too long.

Republicans and Democrats may retain the majority of political power indefinitely in American politics. There may never be a multitude of parties to choose from that best represents every opinion we each hold, and having a majority of independent voters may not continue beyond our generation. One thing is for sure—the two-party system has no chance of continuing to operate the way it has been with Gen Z grabbing the steering wheel.

Isabel Brown

About the Author

Isabel Brown is a full-time live-streamer and independent content creator, giving a voice to Generation Z breaking down culture’s most important topics to thousands of viewers in a real-time, authentic format. Isabel’s streams and other content reach millions of people around the world daily. She published her first book, Frontlines: Finding My Voice on an American College Campus, in February 2021, and regularly speaks on high school and college campuses and to activism organizations worldwide. You may recognize her from the cover of Newsweek magazine or her regular appearances on national and international television and radio! Isabel lives in Miami and loves adventure with her fiancé and Corgi, Liberty.

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