“My choice isn’t what I breathe in, it’s what I exhale… And right now, in this moment, I feel a need for all of us to breathe fire.”

Months ago, I came across this quote in a Twitter thread about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). I vaguely remember screenshotting the image, having it in mind that this is a woman I should take time to learn more about, and moving on with my day.

In hindsight of recent events, I find it very fitting to talk once again about Ocasio-Cortez, someone who is young and cares about many of the same things that I do, specifically the future. She is thirty years old and took office at the age of twenty-nine, making her the youngest woman ever to serve in the United States Congress. Born in 1989, she grew up in a working-class, Hispanic family. She worked two jobs to pay for her rent and student debt, as well as beginning a career in politics.

Not only is Ocasio-Cortez able to speak to those of Hispanic origin, but she is also becoming a light in the dark to a new, younger generation of voters—more specifically in hindsight of the recent events in our country.

It’s no secret that both external and internal factors have contributed to the state of our country in the past six months, but it is our political leaders’ reactions to those internal issues that creates a political butterfly effect that is passed down into every crack and crevice of America. Although no politician is perfect, Ocasio-Cortez might as well be in the eyes of her supporters with the growing chatterings of the upcoming 2020, and even, 2024 presidential elections.

Referencing Ocasio-Cortez’s words on “breathing fire,” it is no secret that young people—and traditionally silenced voices—are angrier than ever with the state of our country. Especially with the recent Black Lives Matter movement, climate crisis, and the increased outrage over the injustices being faced by women and refugees, there is no shortage of issues the younger generation does not have an opinion about.

One of the reasons that there is so much talk about AOC might very well be that she is ushering in a new idea of politics that speaks a lot to the outrage over these (and other) pressing issues—issues of great importance to people like me. It has become increasingly more interesting throughout the Coronavirus Pandemic to watch her platform grow. What, to me, is the most enthralling about Ocasio-Cortez’s type of progressive politics is that her focus on social movements might just land her the big chair in the White House in 2024.

With younger generations growing more uneasy of the current political atmosphere and this new era of political change coming upon us, I think it is important for us to look to new and younger politicians who have the potential to be leaders of our country at some point in our lives. 

Being as it may, Ocasio-Cortez stating that she will go to “battle” with the Democratic party has a lot of 2024 voters, including myself, captivated by her awe-inspiring persistence against age-old systems in this country. In fact, a big contributor to the political buzz around Ocasio-Cortez may be the very thing residing at the root of America’s issues: the divide between the right and the left.

While Ocasio-Cortez’s bold statements against her “own party” have been considered foolish and an example of poor strategic judgment by critics, it is that very independence from either party that has a generation of “undecideds” stirring about a new era of political change in a country that they are going to have a say in very soon.