Here we go again. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez continues to separate herself from moderate Democrats. She has now gone on the record with some more devastatingly narrow opinions on capitalism itself. Speaking at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin Texas, the idiot firebrand had the following thing to say about our economic model:
“Capitalism is an ideology of capital – the most important thing is the concentration of capital and to seek and maximize profit…so to me capitalism is irredeemable.”
Bold statements like this are precisely the sort of thing that gets AOC compared to Trump. She speaks in an (apparently) off the cuff manner and spouts things that are frankly obtuse.
History Shows Ideological Balance Is Required
Anyone who knows anything about History knows that ultimately complete adherence to capitalism results in autocracy or monarchy. That’s why Europe has Kings and Queens and lots of capital re-resetting revolutions. The US is too young to have dealt with this absolute power situation because it was able to incorporate a lot of its French allies “Enlightenment” philosophy (separation of powers, a democratic republic etc,) into its founding after the War of Independence.
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At this point, AOC stopped reading the history book. While capitalism is often considered the polar opposite of socialism, the reality is entirely different in practice. Communism still needs someone to be in charge. That means wealth concentration gets equally as severe. Look at examples like the Soviet Union for evidence. Hoisting a communist ideologue, Stalin sure did like acquiring capital in the form of other nations under his iron curtain to teach them what was the best system of governance.
Socialism Doesn’t Have to Mean Grey Jumpsuits, Ask Norway
Successful socialism requires something that doesn’t happen very often; un-corruptible politicians. Hence why Norway, Denmark, and Sweden are so successful in the world’s quality of life rankings as they also rank highly in the corruption index. The Scandies aren’t perfect, but they do an excellent job of having a people-first mindset. US citizens tend to think that Norway’s economy wouldn’t work in the US because of all the different people and the sheer size of the population. Possibly, but it’s mainly because Washington DC is vastly more corrupt than Oslo. Add Norway’s trillion-dollar wealth fund to the mix, and you make every Norwegian technically a millionaire. It’s a great blend of capitalist success and a socialist conscience. Alexandria needs to understand that her moral bar is automatically higher because of her ideology, and she hasn’t got off to a great start.
Norway’s economic model proves Capitalism and Socialism can co-exist peacefully. | Image from Shutterstock
DC is Too Corrupt For Socialism
When you boil it down, Government’s work best when they provide what they promise. Do you want to live in a profoundly capitalist country? Ok great, keep more of your paycheck, but don’t complain when you have no healthcare and your jobs go to China. Do you want to be in a socialist country? No problem, you’ll have a lot taken care of for you but pay close attention if the money you spend and the services you get back don’t add up. #California.
Right now the United States walks a line between these two concepts but does both poorly. You have a right-wing leader championing tariffs, while high taxation is mostly spent on un-winnable wars thousands of miles away. Ocasio-Cortez knows that minorities have been failed by US fiscal policy, and Trump knows that globalists failed a white, formerly middle-class voter. They both have a massive political opportunity here because so many in the US have become disillusioned. All this while the Federal Reserve fans the fires of inequality with monetary policy that massively benefited those with existing assets.
The Poor Poorer so Long as The Rich Are Too
Watch Margret Thatcher stunningly demonstrate how easy it is to crush AOC’s point of view.
“You Will Also Go on Ze List”
If you want to have an i-phone to tweet on and a jet to fly to the Conference you can’t just say Capitalism has failed. You need a certain amount of capital in the system to make it all work; otherwise the world couldn’t support its current population. Remember the invention of domestic farming or agriculture is capitalism. Heck, so was being smarter than the Homo Erectus next to you. Enter AOC threatening liberal moderates with a list. Where have I seen that before?
If you care a lot about the environment, don’t fly around on a jet all the time. If you think capitalism is the problem, stop tweeting. You can’t justify the need to get your message out by embodying things you believe are “irredeemable,” it makes you irredeemable by your own logic.
Keep the High Ground To Beat Trump
What’s ridiculous here is that obviously, the environment needs to be managed better. If you have a house with two people in it and then later that number grows to 10, it gets messier and hotter. Duh. Ocasio-Cortez is presenting a selfless message and applying it in a way which is dooming it. If I can rip it to shreds what do you think 100 high paid Republican strategists will do to her down the road? In the era of Trump, those who oppose him must maintain the high-ground both in message and in practice. AOC is diving into the mud for a street-fight.
Opinions expressed in this article belong to the author alone.