What is the significance of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?

This is the 28-year-old socialist who beat the heir to the throne for Democratic Congressional
leader in New York.

Are the Democrats experiencing a 'tea-party of the left' moment where the establishment is shaken up by radicals? Could it be even more significant in that American politics is set to experience real structural changes years down the line? Certainly, there will be replacement Bernies, if nothing else.

For those who don't know, I'm a British political activist and very much involved in the movement around Jeremy Corbyn, Britain's Labour Party leader. I see the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) as a US version of Momentum, so I kind of feel a kinship here.

It strikes me that the Democrats are united in opposition to Trump but in little else. There seems to be a division between party elites who accept corporate donations and have classical liberal policies and a more progressive radical base. I don't think most American Democrat voters are socialist in the classical sense but nonetheless, I think there is a political message here which will resonate.

I also think that Ocasio-Cortez is extremely impressive as a candiate. She has excellent politics, as well as charisma, authenticity and self-confidence. If I was an activist in this room, then I would walk through walls for that person:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAb2QMw9h_w]

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CountScrofula · 41-45, M

This is very much the same kind of movement that made Corbyn and Sanders. I'm all for it, even if I have a deeply cynical view about how effective democratic socialists can be once they get into power.

But this is necessary. The Democrat party is a disgrace and part of Trump's victory was the fact people had clued into the notion that they were just Republicans who didn't hate gays. A lot of people think of Obama fondly, but the economic recovery under him didn't result in good jobs.

Trump won because he promised not just jobs, but good jobs like the US used to have.

She's not promising jobs, but she is promising other things that people want in a stronger welfare state. Just the fact she's focusing on paid sick and maternity leave (to me) is HUGE and probably the most important thing to me in her platform as I'm a conditions of work kind of guy.

I fundamentally do not believe that replacing all the neo-liberals with social democrats will change the forces that made capitalism what it was today, and those politicians will bend to those forces. But hell, it's better than what's going on right now.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@CountScrofula Agree with all of that. As a student, I was involved in radical left groups that demanded revolution but... well... yeah...

The left needs strategy and this is good strategy. Social democracy is better and the only viable immediate demand. If this fails in office, we have at least moved the Overton window a little and got a lot of new people engaged.

The left has been devastated for a generation, especially in Britain and America so its baby steps on a long road. These baby steps are giant strides compared to what has come before though.

CountScrofula · 41-45, M

@Burnley123 > Social democracy is better and the only viable immediate demand.

Yeah exactly. The 'anarchist way' is to focus on building power at a local or community level, and then using masses of organized people to force changes, successful changes lead to building the movement, and so forth and so on.

But that's in its infancy and the radical left is usually more content to just have its head up its ass trying to figure out if Pizza Hut is cultural appropriation or if the Trumps are secretly fascists because sorting that from other kinds of autocrats is super important for some reason.

Having good people in office with good ideas ABSOLUTELY helps. I have been deeply, deeply disappointed by some things the pseudo-democratic socialist party that runs Alberta have done, but my God are they better than the Conservatives.

If a proper populist wave can get real lefties into congress and senate, and then find the right candidate for 2020 that's an unambiguous good.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@CountScrofula [quote]But that's in its infancy and the left is usually more content to just have its head up its ass trying to figure out if Pizza Hut is cultural appropriation.[/quote]

😂

I don't know too much about Canadian politics but it amazes me that the NDP are in power in what I know to be Canada's most right-wing state. Alberta had the reform party, Stephen Harper and also a right-wing quasi-independence movement, right? Do the liberals not stand there in order to not split the 'progressive' vote?

I also read that there is a division between the Alberta and BC NDP leadership on the Keystone pipeline issue. Alberta are for it and BC against, with the national leadership saying they can see 'both sides of the argument'.

It must be a tough situation to be a radical left Albertan. The Alberta leadership must be the bedrock of the party right nationally and will lead opposition to progressive change but they are the only game in town where you are and the alternative is hell.

Am I right on this? This shit is interesting so feel free to say more.

CountScrofula · 41-45, M

@Burnley123 You have the sum of it. Uh... short history.

Alberta is the soul of Canadian conservatism - although that's changing a bit. The mainstream conservative thought is based out of the Calgary School in the University of Calgary, and the Canadian west populism also came out from here when the federal conservative party collapsed in the early 90s.

The province has been a single party state since 1935, changing over once from a weird populist group to the Conservatives in 1971. The Liberals have not been a force here in that long, and are very much the party of the 'Toronto elite' which has a bad history with Alberta. Alberta has never been as conservative as people think it is. But it's always been conservative enough.

The NDP won because the Conservatives fell apart after bad leaders, and their opposition - the populist Wildrose part fell apart after their leadership tried to merge with the Conservatives and basically failed. The demographics of the province had changed, and they ran a REALLY GREAT campaign, and you had that "Every street has an NDP sign" phenomenon. It was this crazy wave that nobody predicted.

Since coming into power, the NDP have done some fantastic stuff. High minimum wage, better farm safety rules, great stuff on LBGT+ kids in high school, a ministry solely dedicated to womens' rights, etc...

They've failed completely on oil. Alberta is run by oil companies - their first act was to review our oil royalties (cheapest in the world) and then decide not to change it. Pipelines are a hot topic in that oil companies have wanted major pipelines built for years, and nobody can get them built. The NDP think if they get a pipeline, they can win.

So they're in a major inter-province war with British Columbia, who are also NDP but not run by oil companies. They've basically broken with the federal party on this issue and gone 100% against not only environmentalists, but the Indigenous groups too. The entire thing is the pipelines leak frequently, the leaks are catastrophic, and this is over Indigenous land. It's a giant fucking mess that escalated into a brief inter-province trade war.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@CountScrofula Thanks for sharing.