AOC Calls Democratic Party 'Center-Conservative,' Would Drag It Further to the Left
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is as far left as they come in American politics, and that’s saying something with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders around.
But if AOC has her way, her entire party will follow her lead.
As things currently stand, even with the Democratic Party’s shift to the far left in recent years, the establishment wing of the party is not yet as radical as it could be — though that’s not to say it isn’t quite radical.
Particularly when compared to the liberal parties that run a host of socialist-style European governments, the Democratic Party in the U.S. could shift even further to the left.
The democratic socialist from the Empire State seems to want to make sure that happens.
“We don’t have a left party in the United States. The Democratic Party is not a left party,” AOC said Monday at event in Harlem’s Riverside Church to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, according to the Washington Examiner.
“The Democratic Party is a center or center-conservative party.”
.@AOC today: “ We don’t have a left party in the United States. The Democratic Party is not a left party. The Democratic Party is a center, or a center-conservative party” pic.twitter.com/FIVjsa1Rxf
— Ibrahim (@ibrahimpols) January 20, 2020
“We can’t even get a floor vote on Medicare for All, not even a floor vote that gets voted down,” she added. “So, this is not a left party.”
“There are a lot of true believers that we can ‘capitalism’ our way out of poverty in the Democratic Party. If anything, that’s probably the majority,” the 30-year-old said.
Of course, if it were up to AOC, the Democratic establishment would embrace such policies as “Medicare for All,” the forgiveness of trillions of dollars in student loans and the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez even took a swipe at former Vice President Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic presidential front-runner, and argued that the Democratic Party was too inclusive.
“In any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party, but in America, we are,” she told New York magazine.
“They let anybody who the cat dragged in call themselves a progressive.”
At any other time in history, the ramblings of one out-of-touch member of Congress would be easily dismissed.
But Ocasio-Cortez is young, energetic and very good at marketing herself and her movement, which has resulted in her amassing legions of followers.
Her influence as a first-term representative is so great that she often sets the narrative in the public discourse on important matters.
And whenever the House votes on something of great significance, like impeachment, the media immediately seeks her out for comment.
If she is able to wrest control of the party from the likes of House Speaker Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, it would be terrifying.
The Democratic Party would begin to resemble to the government of Germany’s Angela Merkel, whose open-border policy brought her nation to its knees.
Or, it might look like the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, which, under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, has advocated for the government to take over large swaths of the private sector.
But there is a plus side to all this — a side that is a lot less terrifying than the United States embracing European-style socialism.
Someone like Ocasio-Cortez also has enough influence to cause a schism in her party, splitting it in two and giving conservatives the reins of government for the foreseeable future.
And still, there is a third possibility (and it’s the most likely one) — that her message plays well with other young people right now, but as they grow up, they realize that her ideas would lead to economic collapse and begin to ignore her.
If that happens, she’d become another California Rep. Maxine Waters — whose words reverberate with only the people of her district and the crazies on the coasts while the rest of America ignores her — and thus be relegated to nothing more than a sideshow comedy act.
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