Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shocked the political world earlier this week by defeating New York’s 14th Congressional district’s long time incumbent, Rep. Joe Crowley. Many speculate that this win is a message to the Democratic Establishment that the base of the party is moving decidedly more towards “Democratic socialism.” The only problem is that it seems nobody can get any specific answers on what this new “Democratic Socialism” actually is and how it differs from plain, run of the mill, failed socialism. Not even liberals can decide.
“There’s a huge difference between socialism and democratic socialism. Democratic socialism, and really what that boils down to me, is the basic belief that I believe in a moral and wealthy America and in a moral and modern America no person should be to poor to live in this country...That’s what I believe,” Ocasio-Cortez opined to Meghan McCain and the other hosts onABCs’s “The View.”
Not to digress, but virtually every political party in this country says that they do not believe people should be poor in America. It would be a pretty bad platform plank to advocate for poverty. In short, the difference between right leaning and left leaning parties is the degree to which the free market, charity, and religious organizations alleviate poverty and to what extent government plays a role in this effort. Still, Ocasio-Cortez’s answer did not address the fundamental question that McCain asked her.
Again, McCain inquired if she believes that the Democratic Socialists are the future of the party. Ocasio-Cortez gave another answer short on specifics.
“I think the future of the party is working class. And I think that what I represent, and Sen. Sanders and Sen. Warren, there’s a lot of working class champions. And I do think that’s the future of the party.”
The exchange can be viewed here:
But, less than 48 hours after that exchange happened, Ocasio-Cotez's comrades from the New York Democratic Socialists of America provided some answers to what exactly they believe.
?? Abolish profit
— New York City DSA ?? (@nycDSA) June 29, 2018
?? Abolish prisons
?? Abolish cash bail
?? Abolish borders#AbolishICE pic.twitter.com/TCFIZqzJrU
All of these ideas are asinine within their own right. Plus, it is worth noting that Sen. Bernie Sanders, a supposed leader of the new Democratic party, actually strongly opposes the abolition of borders and of ICE. "I think that what we need is to create policies which deal with immigration in a rational way,” Sanders said earlier this week. “What we need is Trump to sit down with members of Congress and work on a national program which deals with this serious issue."
But it is telling that Ocasio-Cortez's organization which she started her career from, New York DSA, says point blank they are fighting for a little more than "the working class." In particular, the "abolish profit" statement is taken nearly verbatim from the 1912 Socialist Party of America platform. As part of their "industrial demands" after overthrowing capitalism, the Socialist party of 1912 said they hoped to "abolish(ing) the profit system in government work and substitute(ing) either the direct hire of labor or the awarding of contracts to co-operative groups of workers."
Some might say that the Democratic Socialist's "abolish profit" plank is simply in reference to for-profit government prisons and detention centers. Well, that idea gets shot down point blank in the opening line of their constitution.
"We are socialists because we reject an economic order based on private profit, alienated labor, gross inequalities of wealth and power, discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, disability status, age, religion, and national origin, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo," it reads.
After reading that, it is easier to understand why Ocasio-Cortez was opaque in her answers on The View. I think I stole this quote from Kurt Schlicter's Twitter feed, but the beauty of left-wing liberals is that "whenever you think that you lost them, they are always right back where you left them." As in, they have continuously been fighting the same-old fights with very little new ideas presented.
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