“In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.”
But being serious: AOC and politicians like her ARE us “doing it for ourselves.” For a very long time, the vast majority of politicians elected in the US have gotten there by getting the backing of wealthy capitalists. They don’t say “common sense things” because those things aren’t good for the people who helped them get elected. If they did say those things, those capitalists would not only stop funding them, but fund their opposition more. The result is a government comprised of politicians who very rationally don’t represent us. (That’s not to say some of them aren’t crazy on their own, but them being there is a rational outcome of self-interested actors.)
In order to get a politician who does and says things that are good for people, you need an absolutely massive grass roots effort to win an election against the might of rich donors. AOC was one of the notable times when we managed to do that. But this shows the limitations of that strategy within our current electoral system. For every AOC, Illhan Omar, or Mamdani, there are literally hundreds of more races which are still dominated by big money. It took not only a massive on the ground organizing effort locally, but also a lot of support from engaged people across the nation. And it’s way more costly for the average person to contribute to a campaign than it is for a billionaire. So even if a lot of us want this, it’s going to be really difficult to get a critical mass of wins to actually make an impact.
So that’s why they’re a big deal. They might be basic social democrats in some less corrupt countries, but here they are the few who are unbought. What they say is less relevant than the fact that they are able to say it at all.
“In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.”
But being serious: AOC and politicians like her ARE us “doing it for ourselves.” For a very long time, the vast majority of politicians elected in the US have gotten there by getting the backing of wealthy capitalists. They don’t say “common sense things” because those things aren’t good for the people who helped them get elected. If they did say those things, those capitalists would not only stop funding them, but fund their opposition more. The result is a government comprised of politicians who very rationally don’t represent us. (That’s not to say some of them aren’t crazy on their own, but them being there is a rational outcome of self-interested actors.)
In order to get a politician who does and says things that are good for people, you need an absolutely massive grass roots effort to win an election against the might of rich donors. AOC was one of the notable times when we managed to do that. But this shows the limitations of that strategy within our current electoral system. For every AOC, Illhan Omar, or Mamdani, there are literally hundreds of more races which are still dominated by big money. It took not only a massive on the ground organizing effort locally, but also a lot of support from engaged people across the nation. And it’s way more costly for the average person to contribute to a campaign than it is for a billionaire. So even if a lot of us want this, it’s going to be really difficult to get a critical mass of wins to actually make an impact.
So that’s why they’re a big deal. They might be basic social democrats in some less corrupt countries, but here they are the few who are unbought. What they say is less relevant than the fact that they are able to say it at all.