Democracy. Ain’t it a Bitch?

Newsweek: “AOC Calls Out Wall Street CEOs Trying to Unseat Her In Upcoming Primary”

Ya know, if you only read the headline and are an Ocasio-Cortez supporter, you’re likely outraged. …but as has seemingly been the case this weekend, the headline doesn’t tell the whole story.

When you read the rest of it, you learn that:

  • There are in fact Wall Street CEOs that are donating money to unseat her
  • Her competition for the seat is Caruso-Cabrera
  • Caruso-Cabrera was a Republican until 5 years ago and sees herself as a “centralist”
  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asks why Americans will fund Space Force, but won’t back health care for all

Let’s look at those bullet points, neh?

I love that AOC is calling out “Wall Street CEOs” that are out to get her. An easy target that plays well in a headline. “Look at me! I’m an underdog being pushed around by big business!” Um, those CEOs? They are citizens too, so they can vote for whoever they want and donate money – within the legal limits – to whoever’s campaign they want. And by the way, AOC? You’re the incumbent. You also have five times more money in your war chest. You are not the same person that ran for the seat in 2019; you are not an underdog. You are going to have to earn your re-election based on your record and your platform’s merits. And by the way – before you pull out the “I blocked Amazon” – you are taking credit for the actions of others. Amazon wasn’t even coming to your district and you basically used your press collateral to override the wants of the representatives of that district, the district that needed the jobs Amazon would have brought. Right now, you’re looking like an entitled congressperson that is pointing at other citizens and complaining that they are not supporting you. I expecting this from Trump – not from a junior representative from NYC.

Caruso-Cabrera I know nothing about but the fact is that politicians change parties from time to time. Reagan did. Clinton did. Trump did, five times since 1987. The parties change, the climate change, and independents don’t stand a chance in our election process. As the GOP continues it’s tyrannical control over social issues and moralized expectations (while their party members continue to fail to meet them) they will continue to alienate more and more people. As an independent raised in the halcyon days of Reagan-era Republican party (pay taxes, make money, attempts at smaller government, pay taxes, no strong social agenda), there’s no way I can back what the GOP stands for today. Libertarians are too ideological for my liking, as this complicated world we live in needs some form of government to keep it running. And the rest of the smaller parties are even more extreme or eclectic. That leaves the Democratic party, where I find the “if you aren’t with us 100%, you’re against us 100%” mentality just as bad as the GOP but since the policy they are backing is more inclusive than exclusive, it’s… more palatable? Anyway, Caruso-Cabrera might be a centralist or a bleeding heart liberal that wants to flambĂ© anyone making $1 more than minimum wage, but she’s not yet known for it: of course she’s going to get the backing of anyone that wants AOC out of Congress because she’s made her positions clear and she sticks to them. But not everyone likes them and that’s should be OK too!

And yeah: AOC is cut from the same cloth that [Kshama] Sarwant [of Seattle’s City Console] is made from. They are all about FREEDOM! provided you do what they want you to do. Americans will fund whatever they damn well want to. It’s our right as Americans. If a citizen want to spend their tax money to put people on Jupiter, it’s their opinion and their right to have that opinion. It doesn’t make them wrong or stupid or ignorant no matter how much you disagree with them. It’s the same argument that you’d make when you want to protect someone that’s burning a US flag. People like space flight and they don’t like paying $1000 for a doctor that walks past their hospital room. People don’t like universal health care. People want health care to be reformed. They want cost oversight or regulation of pricing or a revamping of the health insurance industry to be rational and affordable.

The last time there was a “health care for all” package passed, Americans that already had insurance lost the plans they had for less plans at the same or higher price, had their wages drop (or prices increased) as businesses had to cover higher costs, and taxes went up as well. Why would anyone negatively impacted by this will sign up for that again?

No, for these types of politicians, it’s all about protesting and yelling at press conferences and getting people fired up but there’s no movement behind the bluster. There’s no meat in the stew. There’s no bite in the sourdough. And it’s OK that this is what they do – it’s up to them how they want to do their jobs. I can’t even feel bad that for the people in their districts either, as they record this kind of job record by keeping them in office. That’s just another facet of democracy in action.

Even though I find it a sad to praise an article for being what an article should – balanced and fact filled – props to Newsweek for a their writing, in spite of a poor headline.


12 thoughts on “Democracy. Ain’t it a Bitch?”

      1. Headline? No because that didn’t say much of anything. The article where it makes AOC look like she’s going to lose in a landslide? Yes, I would say that’s off.

      2. Exactamundo, Bobo. Keep calling out the non-sequitur fallacies where you see them. Kudos, I salute you.

  1. The American people don’t want the much, much, much cheaper and more effective health care of every other first world country! They demand a half-assed hackjob instead, because learning from others is weakness.

    And billionaires literally buying elections is called freedom, you commies!

    1. Bobo is spot-on. Billionaires freedom is SOOOO much more important than my 50K a year freedom. Or normal health care access. Breathable air, you know , the one WITHOUT them dust particles which will give my non-smoking butt lung-cancer at age 55.

    2. So true. Next election will be on a knives edge, again, Americans are stupid like that. Europeans….. too.

  2. Any opponent of just ONE Wall Street CEO is quite severely the underdog. Let alone several CEO’s.

    It’s a little weird to me to not see that an academically trained person doesn’t see that, especially one that recognizes the truly bad stuff that Republicans do.
    Goes to show ya, education does not bring insight, logical reasoning or an adherence to obvious facts. Let alone, eeerm… wisdom?

    Bonus question: why would you want tax $$$ on Space Force when Americans are dying of simple infections caused by tooth decay. I mean, poor people dying won’t even reduce the CO2 footprint at all.

    AOC won that election by 71,6%. Democracy….still a beeyatch? I’m asking.

    1. Everyone hates at least one CEO, and most people gladly give money to the ones they don’t hate. Wall Street doesn’t care, because the money is all slushy there.

      And someone who won an election is not an underdog.

      And what does tooth decay have to do with a CO2 footprint? Or was that just a word salad?

    2. What’s so ultra-cool about Randy Rants, is how he allows dissent to his rants. You see, he’s just soooooooooo democratic like that.
      We just can’t talk about …. and also not about ……. and oh, mentioning …. will result in your life time ban.

      Every blog, where the blogowner has the absolute power who can and who can NOT speak, is in fact, a good example of Machiavellis aforism that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
      They are a reflection of the Republican Party, and what the future of America will be if this goes on:
      One man speaks, the rest listens and kisses butt.
      What I’m wondering about is this:
      How come all those Europeans fleeing oppression and brutal feudality, are now behaving like serfs? If a CEO speaks, you shut up. Bezos, Musk behave like absolute rulers, and they have much more power than KIng George III ever had.

      1. And I support that absolute power: as a blogger this is my blog so I control the space as I see fit. Same for Facebook or Twitter. Freedom of speech is a US law for her citizen; doesn’t apply on the Internet any more than you can wander off to a local mall and start selling random goods in the hallways. Public is allowed there sure but it’s private property so they have their own rules. Similar for people that host a Minecraft Realm but allow randos in.

        For my own blog, I have only ever removed two comments and they were both because they were threatening in nature to someone that I know – I saw no reason to give the knucklehead a platform to speak from. That doesn’t mean I won’t remove anything I think is harmful or just bat shit crazy. Like I’m not going to give free Internet space for an anti-vaxxer to try and convince people that science is dumb. Thankfully most people that wander here don’t do that. I’d like to think that they read something else here that changed their minds but I think they just don’t want to argue it with someone that’s louder than they are.


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