Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her squad are the few US Democrats who stand between the poor, the working poor and those of us who lack political clout!

By SJ Otto

The New York Post provided the internet with this head line:

AOC raised most money among House Dems for reelection campaign

Then they started the article:

 

US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raked in more money for her reelection campaign in the last fundraising quarter than any other House Democrat — including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, records show.

For progressives as myself this could not be better news. For 30 years now our news media and congress have been dominated by savvy intelligent conservative Republicans who have year after year, pushed this country farther and farther to the right. I used to say, “It can’t get worse than this,” and year after year, the Republicans have proven me wrong. It can always get worse. And I have seen that proven out.

Now after all these years we had a Democrat, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, elected to office who is a member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). There are many people, about my age, who thought this would be impossible. But it wasn’t and not only that, she has been very effective and smart. It would seem that progressive people around the country have taken notice to her and have contributed to her re-election campaign.

She also has 14.3 retweets and likes on Twitter, which is further testimony to the political power of progressive political people of all kinds. President Donald Trump has 41.88 million and his is one of the few national politicians who have more twitter activity than she does.

AOC has had a lot of negative publicity over her “New Green Deal,” and she is often ridiculed by rightwing pundits who try to claim she is stupid, dumb and doesn’t know anything about politics. But she has proven to be a real savvy and intelligent politician. There is no way that the media as a whole can seriously blow her off as just a flake. Some time back The Guardian wrote:

“The massive crowd had gathered in Queens because Ocasio-Cortez had endorsed Bernie Sanders for president. The Sanders campaign had bet on the so-called “AOC effect” buoying his candidacy, and Ocasio-Cortez’s political clout was on full display that afternoon. But the real evidence that the “AOC effect” will deliver returns for Democrats and progressives in coming years is not in Sanders’ resilience but in the power of local progressives like Cabán, who are changing expectations about what is possible in their cities and states nationwide.It goes without saying that Ocasio-Cortez is both a catalyst and result of the left’s invigoration since 2016. Nationwide, many other primary challengers have attempted to unseat Democratic incumbents they say are milquetoast or bought off by corporate donors. Unlike Ocasio-Cortez, many have lost their primary bids. If we think short-term, those candidates failed.

So politicians across the country are taking AOC very serious. Again according the New York Post:

Brendan Quinn of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks fundraising, agreed that AOC’s fundraising juggernaut is unusual for a rookie.

He called it a testament to her popularity and tremendous name recognition, saying, “She’s become iconic.”

As for the rest of the New York House delegation, Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, for example, raised $499,739 during the same period.

Along with AOC is her “squad,” fellow progressives who have also been elected. They include;

Rashida Tlaib,  Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and of course AOC. All of these women have become a symbol for progressive politics. The others are not as well known as AOC, but they all represent a big depart from the Centrist Democrats that have dominated Congress and the Democratic Party since the days of Ronald Reagan.

The New York Post explains:

 “Her rookie sidekick, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, raised $722,212.”

For now, let’s not fall into the Republican trap of selling out our Democratic politicians. It is like the simple “let us support the left wing of the Democratic Party.” We have no reason to sell out our Democratic side of the political spectrum. Personal greed has no place in US politics, even though, such greed is a constant and obvious point in the system.

As with AOC—Resist!

Let us all fight the centrist and right-wing politicians—we can and will win!!