Why AOC is AOK [View all]

[ProfessorPlum]

Ask yourself: why does AOC excite people? It isn't a personality cult. She is exciting because she (and other members of the progressive caucus and Justice Democrats) give(s) people hope that their government might do (even) more things that make their lives better.

That really is the point of government: WE are the government. It is ours, and a tool to make our lives better. It has been hijacked, steadily over 40 years of bad supreme court decisions, by the wealthiest among us to serve only THEIR goals and line THEIR pockets and siphon more and more wealth from the rest of us, make our lives more miserable, and change the rules so that we have less and less say over what government does. Those changes happen much more quickly with the completely corrupt Republicans, and more slowly under Democrats, because of the changes the elites have made to our system.

By being unapologetic about the government's role in making our lives better - it's REAL role - Justice Democrats can ask themselves, without any conflict of interest, "I know what the corporations want - but what do the actual people who do most of the living and dying and working here want?"

It's a sliver of hope. And the fact that she is smart, and sharp, and excellent at MESSAGING means that more and more people will wake up from the fog that started with Reagan and begin taking back the government as a means to make our lives better.

She's quite a competent carrier for the message. But it's the MESSAGE itself that excites me.