Politics & Power Quote by John Avlon

Avlon frames centrism less as mushy compromise and more as a consumer revolt against a duopoly. The language is pointedly market-native: “independent,” “centrist,” “brand A and brand B.” He’s not just describing politics; he’s diagnosing it as a stale product category that hasn’t kept up with the rest of modern life. That’s a savvy rhetorical move for a writer talking to an audience raised on infinite menus: streaming libraries, curated identities, algorithmic personalization. If everything else is modular and choice-rich, why is civic power packaged in two pre-set bundles?

The subtext is a generational pitch dressed up as democratic concern. By casting a “new generation” as the protagonist, Avlon borrows the moral authority of youth and inevitability: change isn’t a preference, it’s a demographic fact. The quote also subtly reframes “centrist” away from ideology and toward usability. Centrism becomes the interface that “fits” how people live, implying the existing system is a kind of bad UX - confusing, restrictive, outdated.

Context matters: this is the language of the post-Obama, post-financial-crisis era when institutional trust cratered and partisan brands hardened. It also anticipates the rise of political entrepreneurship (third parties, independents, reform groups) that sells itself as disruption. The risk, which the quote quietly sidesteps, is that politics isn’t Spotify. More choice can mean fragmentation, not empowerment. Still, the line works because it turns a structural critique (two-party incentives) into a lived experience (being told to settle), and that indignation has real cultural charge.