I've got a positive take on her. It's hard not to appreciate what she did: she knocked off a veteran Democrat, Joe Crowley, in the primary and won her seat in the general election from a reliably Democratic district in New York. She's the youngest member of Congress. She didn't have a reliable place to live when she was elected. She's worked as a server in a bar. (We used to call those "waitresses.") You can get to know her a bit by watching the Netflix documentary, "Knocking Down the House." It follows four progressive women as they challenge Democrats in primaries. Alexandria was the only one who won.
I guess I'm supposed to fear her, if Fox News is any guide. But neither Fox, nor the whole GOP, represents me. And I'll decide what and whom to fear, thank you. I have always appreciated an honest, earnest radical. Politics is about heart, more than anything. So we'd disagree. What else is new? Some of these young progressive types have recovered a basic moral sense that is missing from politics and politicians these days.
I know I'm supposed to scream, "But abortion!" and treat every elected Democrat as a leper and a non-person, but you know, I've never been good at falling in line. Frankly, at a visceral level, I'm not terribly inclined to follow behind Donald Trump, and Mitch The Obstructionist Turtle. If we are overrun by Maoist collegians in the next five years, I stand corrected. But I think that much of the Right has stopped thinking, stopped caring, and stopped trying to persuade their fellows.
"AOC," as some call her, may well lose the next election. In the end, I know Rep. Crowley is much closer to me ideologically than she is. And so it goes. But I'll tell you this: if we stop trying to be better in any sphere, we're finished.
I guess I'm supposed to fear her, if Fox News is any guide. But neither Fox, nor the whole GOP, represents me. And I'll decide what and whom to fear, thank you. I have always appreciated an honest, earnest radical. Politics is about heart, more than anything. So we'd disagree. What else is new? Some of these young progressive types have recovered a basic moral sense that is missing from politics and politicians these days.
I know I'm supposed to scream, "But abortion!" and treat every elected Democrat as a leper and a non-person, but you know, I've never been good at falling in line. Frankly, at a visceral level, I'm not terribly inclined to follow behind Donald Trump, and Mitch The Obstructionist Turtle. If we are overrun by Maoist collegians in the next five years, I stand corrected. But I think that much of the Right has stopped thinking, stopped caring, and stopped trying to persuade their fellows.
"AOC," as some call her, may well lose the next election. In the end, I know Rep. Crowley is much closer to me ideologically than she is. And so it goes. But I'll tell you this: if we stop trying to be better in any sphere, we're finished.
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