- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez attacked America’s political system on ABC’s “The View” this week. But her accusations aren’t new.
- She made the usual complaints: The political system is against women, low income earners, people of color, and also young people.
- But the U.S. political system is great for these individuals.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently made her typical litany of complaints against the United States. She told the audience on ABC’s “The View” that:
Our political system is not designed for people like us. They’re not designed for working people to succeed. For young people, for women, for people of color…
She added:
But also I think it’s because our entire political system revolves frankly around rich men. And rich men are not the center of my universe, working families are.
And that is controversial.
While she got a round of applause for saying that, it’s not controversial. That’s why people clapped. It’s a standard applause line in politicians’ stump speeches.
They all say that exact line.
Donald Trump’s success hinged on appealing to the working class. But not for lack of effort on Hillary Clinton’s part to woo working class voters.
Joe Biden’s aiming for the working class too.
British Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn says we need to do “far more to give a voice to working class communities.” And guess who British Conservative Party Leader, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeals to? The working class.
Our Political System Revolves Around Voters
Clearly from the examples above, our political system revolves around the “working class,” not “rich men.” Politicians dare not provoke the wrath of the working class.
That’s because America’s political system is a democratic republic. By definition and design, it revolves around voters. There are more working class voters (and female voters) than there are rich male voters.
In America in 2020, what political rights do men have that women don’t have? There’s not a single one. They have all the same rights. If our system really was sexist against women, how could it have gotten that way?
There are millions more women than men in the US.
Because on average, U.S. men die five years earlier than women. How can Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seriously suggest our country is against women when they live five years longer than men? (In the 19th century women did not live longer than men.)
So women have an automatic advantage in our democratic political system (if we’re going to slice it by gender like Ocasio-Cortez does). Not only are there more women, they turn out to vote in higher numbers than men. That’s true in both presidential and midterm elections. So how could the system be against them?
The Real Reason Ocasio-Cortez Triggers Conservatives
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ comments were in response to Joy Behar’s question:
You trigger people. Why do you think you do that?
The reason she triggers conservatives is not because they’re “deplorable” rich men who don’t want to see poor people, and women, and people of color succeed.
In times past, many or even most people were like that, but today most Americans and yes, even most Republicans, are just not that way. The reason Democrats lost in 2016 is because people resent being constantly told they’re hateful bigots when they’re not.
You don’t get rich in America by oppressing or taking from others. You get rich by being competent at something that others value, and consistently delivering it to the market.
Rich men work hard, and they have families. The most important person in many of their lives is a woman, whether it’s their mother, their wife, or their daughter.
Americans also love seeing people of color succeed. That’s why Will Smith is an absolute box office monster with an average $136 million box office gross. Samuel L. Jackson is the highest grossing actor of all time.
The reason Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is so triggering is she checks all the same boxes that make memes go viral on the Internet. She’s good looking, which is less common on CSPAN than all the other channels. She’s refreshingly real and unscripted. That leads her to say a lot of meme-worthy lines with high humor value like Donald Trump.
Top it off with some controversial views that make people angry (like all you Central Time people are a bunch of racist, sexist jerks) and you couldn’t have made a better living meme than AOC in a test tube.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
This article was edited by Sam Bourgi.
Last modified: February 21, 2020 2:41 PM UTC
