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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Principles & Values
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Trump represents fascism in the United States
Ocasio-Cortez's brief speech described the left as a mass movement not only fighting for "guaranteed health care, higher education, living wages, and labor rights" but also "striving to recognize and repair the wounds of racial injustice, colonization,
misogyny, and homophobia."Bernie Sanders argued that "at its most basic, this election is about preserving our democracy." Likewise, in a debrief following her comments, AOC said voting for Biden was about "stopping fascism in the United States--that
is what Donald Trump represents."
They are forming an alliance, however uneasy, with establishment Democrats to defeat Trump.
This type of multiracial coalition-building is something that Ocasio-Cortez has excelled at in her congressional career.
Regularly advocating for anti-racism, reparations, and police reform on her social media platforms and on the Hill, she has drawn comparisons to activists like Martin Luther King Jr. and politicians like Shirley Chisholm.
Source: A.R.Coleman on Vox.com on 2020 Dem. National Convention
, Aug 22, 2020
Presidential nominee must fight for transformational change
We have a very real risk of losing the presidency if we do not have a presidential candidate fighting for true transformational change in the lives of working people. If we elect a president that says we're fighting for higher wages but we don't want a
$15 minimum wage, fighting for education but we don't to make colleges tuition-free, fighting for women's rights, et cetera, but we don't want to go all the way with that, then I think we have a very real risk of losing the presidency.
Source: ABC This Week 2019 interview for Congress NY-14 election
, Jun 16, 2019
Moderate is not a stance; it's just "meh"
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed political moderates at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas, calling their views "misplaced" as she defended her progressive politics: "Moderate is not a stance.
It's just an attitude towards life of, like, 'meh,'" the New York Democrat said during an interview. "We've become so cynical, that we view 'meh,' or 'eh'--
we view cynicism as an intellectually superior attitude, and we view ambition as youthful naivete when the greatest things we have
ever accomplished as a society have been ambitious acts of visions, and the 'meh' is just worshipped now, for what?"
Source: Louis Casiano, Fox News, on 2019 SXSW conference
, Mar 10, 2019
Election winners didn't look like me; now maybe more will
[The speech at SXSW by] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was centered on her unlikely rise in the Democratic party and what it means for the future of the country. "Part of what happened last year was a crack in the system," she explained, of her election to
the U.S. House of Representatives for New York's 14th district. The politician has often said that election winners do not look like her, a woman of color from a working-class Puerto Rican family in the Bronx. "Suddenly, a lot of other people
said, 'Wait a second, maybe I can do this too,'" said Ocasio-Cortez.The freshmen representative is known for an explosive brand of left-facing ideology, whose loud and bold criticisms of Washington institutions (including her own party) has
drawn her critics and fans alike.
"History is often revisionist. Martin Luther King is cast as this angelic person that never made anyone mad and just asked for civil rights and got it," Ocasio-Cortez said.
Source: Matt Donnelly, Variety Magazine, on 2019 SXSW conference
, Mar 9, 2019
Activism is inherently divisive, like MLK was
In an interview on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez says that she gives "zero f---s" about criticism she's received from members of the Democratic party.Colbert asked, "You and other freshman members of Congress are getting a
fair amount of pushback, privately and publicly, from more established members of your own party saying 'Wait your turn'; Go slow'; 'Don't ask for so much so fast'; and 'Don't make waves.' On a scale of 'zero' to 'some,' how many f---s do you give?"
Ocasio-Cortez responded, "Zero."
Colbert followed up, "What do you say about having a divided party that the opposition can take advantage of?"
Ocasio-Cortez added: "Activism is inherently divisive. Today is MLK Day. People called Martin Luther King
divisive in his time. We forget he was wildly unpopular when advocating for the Civil Rights Act. I think that what we really need to realize is that social movements are the moral compass--and should be the moral compass--for our politics."
Source: PoliticalWire.com on 2018 Congress NY-14 election
, Jan 22, 2019
Democratic socialist uncompromised about what's right & just
Ocasio-Cortez also spoke forcefully about the ideas she believed in. A self-described democratic socialist, she backed Medicare for all, a universal jobs guarantee, tuition-free public college and trade schools, and abolishing ICE.
She proved that the moral force of a platform grounded in uncompromised normative principles about what is right and just has the power to transform what's politically and electorally possible.
Source: The Week coverage of 2018 Congress NY-14 election
, Jun 27, 2018
Page last updated: Dec 25, 2020