| On a recent program, Rush Limbaugh, a right-wing conservative radio talk show host who has over 20 million listeners, referred to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as America’s most dangerous woman. Adding, “Millennials like her grow up and get elected or hired for management jobs at corporations, where they make laws or are put in charge of advertising and marketing,” he then said: “I can’t tell you what tightwads they are. They’re cheapskates and they’re tightwads to boot. And that is not a broad generalization. It happens to be literally true. ‘Cause they think anything more expensive than free is too expensive. Not all. But a way, way too large number of them do.’”(1) You Can Run But You Can’t Hide…From Justice Supporters of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, of course, would disagree. Claiming that, “When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.”(2), they think the real reason that many right-wing conservatives and some Republicans attack her is her ability to argue and demolish their false knowledge-which is far more dangerous than ignorance. Labeled as “The most dangerous socialist in America!” by others, they also see her as a political and social media warrior. She’s not only exposing their racist and misogynous views, but leading an unapologetic movement that’s fighting for economic, social, and racial justice in the Untied States. Others see her as a genuine leader, in which her views are backed up by action. In other words, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez isn’t afraid to expose her opponent’s hypocrisies and political cynicism. During the government shutdown, and after searching through the halls of Congress and the West Wing, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump were nowhere to be found, she took to the floor of the House to deliver her very first speech. Along with denouncing the president’s shutdown as an “erosion of American democracy,” she declared: “It is not normal for public servants to starve the people we serve for a proposal that is wildly unpopular.”(3) Another thing that resonates with many supporters is how she links justice with the most basic needs. At the Women’s Unity Rally in New York City, for instance, she said: “Justice is not a concept we read about in a book. Justice is about the water we drink, justice is about the air we breathe, justice is about how easy it is to vote, justice is about how much ladies get paid.”(4) Predicting a Democratic resurgence would take back the Senate and presidency in 2020, she also left the impression that “the search for justice” is still taking place. Indeed, justice in America will never be complete until people have more rights than corporations. Nor will it be achieved by being polite or quiet. Coming To Terms And “Kicking Ass” Some conservatives call her: “The Voice of An Ignorant Generation.” Supporters, though, think they’re running scared from a younger generation who’s coming to terms-and of age-that their livelihoods and similar opportunities have been squandered. This comes on the heels of a series of polls and surveys that show Generation Z and Millennials are are one of the most progressive and socially minded voting blocs in American history. As a result, her opponents not only know-and fear-that she embodies the same trends and demographical changes that will replace them, but she’s willing to act and take bold risks to do so. Even if it means running against the president in 2020. This is the real danger. Other kinds of actions consist of “kicking ass” on social media. Along with rejecting her opponents’ arguments that “some subjects are just too complex for everyday people,” she’s been known to have criticized Fox News and the many right-wing radio pundits. Accordingly, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez warns they drill their viewers with what to believe and how to think. On the other hand, she thinks Americans can decide for themselves about the merits and principles surrounding democratic socialism. This entails asking great questions, challenging the many nuances and euphemisms-which often hides the harsh and brutal realities of conservatism, and wining by arguing just the facts. Twelve million followers on Twitter evidently agree with her. Not only do they find her arguments reasonable and based on scientific facts, but they too understand that a Medicare for All Plan is possible if only the government didn’t spend so much on corporate subsidies. This includes a fair tax code or if the Pentagon didn’t squander trillions of dollars on wars. They also know that that humanity has played a central role in causing the climate crisis. What’s more, they see Rep. Ocasio-Cortez as having had to live through the 2008 Great Recession like they did, followed by stagnant wages and a lack of political and economic rights as compared to corporations and the government. Playing The “Hitler Card” And A “Real Constituency” Other conservatives, like Ben Stein, think her ideas could lead to genocide. During a Fox Business exchange, after comparing her to Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin “who came to power promising the same kinds of things that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is promising.”, he said: “And it led to mass murder, it led to dictatorship, it led to genocide. These promises are old promises and they invariably lead to bad things. The promise of just saying to the people do what you can within the law to make your life better and your family’s life better-that system works extremely well. Capitalism is a system that allows people to make something of themselves instead of oppressing other people. It’s a good system.” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez would disagree. She says that something is wrong for the most affluent 10 percent of Americans to own more than three-quarters of the nation’s wealth. As for those living in abject poverty-on $2 or less a day, the number has doubled in the last two decades. Nor will an increase in economic growth or tax breaks for the very rich and corporations “trickle down.” As a result, she thinks that a 70 percent tax rate on people who make $10 million or more is only fair. This, since the average wage peaked more than four decades ago and recent economic gains have been funneled into executive pay, corporate earnings, or the stock market. She’s also backed by a “real” constituency and not some statistical rating, something that makes her all the more appealing and in some polls more popular than the president. One voter in her district, a Yemeni-American who works as an air traffic controller, has had to borrow money and withdraw from his savings during the government shutdown. The same goes for many others, such as TSA agents and the Border Patrol. Meanwhile, millions of government contractors who are never considered are on the verge of losing their homes and cars. The same goes for support industries and services. Some don’t have enough money for electricity, water, and groceries either. Hope Of A Different Kind And A Force To Be Reckoned With On top of her democratic socialist views, Millennials and Gen Zers support racial equality and inclusion more than any other generation. a Pew Survey found that they also think society is “not accepting enough” of those who don’t identify as a man or a woman. Their inclusiveness includes a strong reaction to American Exceptionalism, and the belief that the United States is better than all other countries in the world.(5) Once again, and like the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, they’re inclined not to be told what to think but instead, how to question the natural order of things. A “natural” order that has often resembled a throwback to social Darwinism and a kind of economic eugenics. This is one more reason Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is more popular among voters than the president. Never afraid to discuss-let alone recognize-the existence of racism and classism, in a recent “60 Minutes” interview with Anderson Cooper she called out Donald Trump’s racist language. Referring to it as “historic dog whistles for white supremacy,” she also denounced how he equated the deadly violence caused by the neo-Nazis’ to counter-protesters during the White Nationalist Charlottesville Riot. Knowing what it’s like to be born in a place where the Zip Code determines your destiny, she moreover understands how many in Puerto Rico feel as second-class citizens of the United States. Perhaps the most dangerous thing Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is doing is dominating the national conversation. From Twitter to CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, she’s generating the same amount of attention that Donald Trump did as a candidate. Some sources even claim that the president is jealous of her. In other words, he’s been pushed off the front page by a young and upcoming activist who’s not only sticking up for progressive values, but is using a similar kind of populist appeal that he did. This includes denouncing an immoral system that allows billionaires to coexist alongside “parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they don’t have access to public health.” The Ultimate Danger And Running Scared If Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is the most dangerous woman in America, so are most Americans. Poll after poll shows that many back her tax proposals and Medicare For All Plan. The same goes for marginal tax rates and overturning the violence of income inequality-being undervalued and underpaid for goods and services provided while much of the profit goes to billionaires. This is what conservatives and their talking heads fear the most. That she’ll continue to dismantle their irrational right-wing ideologies disguised as wisdom, and which the GOP has gotten away with for decades. In the meantime, the greatest danger is being unable to change and to be cognizant of the times. The same can be said of a Democratic Establishment that’s running just as scared as the GOP and conservatives. Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling. (1) www.iheart.com., and Rush Limbaugh Facebook: “What I Really Think of Alexandria Cortez” and “Millenials Are a Bunch of Cheapskates.” (2) See Quote by Bette Davis. (3) www.commondreams.org. “In First Floor Speech, Ocasio-Cortez Condemns Trump Shutdown as ‘Erosion of American Democracy,’” by Jake Johnson. January 16, 2019. (4) www.alternet.org. “Ocasio-Cortez Pummels Conservatives in Barnburner Women’s Unity Rally Speech,” by Bob Brigham., January 19, 2019. (5) www.commondreams.org. “‘Terrible News’ for GOP as Survey Shows Generation Z Shaping Up To Be Most Progressive Ever,” by Jake Johnson. January 17, 2019. |