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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Principles & Values
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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: Apr 26, 2019