You have to remember that 99% of people talking about "dystopian" novels mean the Hunger Games and Divergent books, maybe also Harry Potter. Dystopian YA novels were best sellers in the US for like a decade, so most peoples' image of a dystopian protagonist is a teenager with limited responsibilities outside "growing up" and "overcoming the system." And after your "youthful rebellion" against the oppressive nightmare system, you can become a cop protecting it!

If you wonder why Americans are so bad at all this stuff, it's because generations of us were raised on fake revolution stories.