What are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Flaws?

Sounds very nefarious

predatory recruitment of kids to be grunts isn’t the same as promoting the existence of schools that churn out officers isn’t the same unless you’re against the armed forces’ existence at all in principle, which I don’t think AOC is?

Recruitment is recruitment, it’s beyond despicable

ttitt, if AOC duplicated your politics she would not be a member of Congress and she'd be exactly as powerful a force in society as you are. which I'm sure you'll agree is a very minimal force.

my position is that if these positions of power must exist and be filled by someone, I'd prefer people like AOC, who at least attempt to move government policy in directions more helpful than those being boosted by the preponderance of members of Congress.

Go ahead and despise her for whatever she does you find despicable, but government exists and wields real power and anyone who on average modifies the uses of that power in a direction I find good doesn't have to achieve the final goals of anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, anti-fascism, socialism or self-regulating anarchy to earn some measure of my approval. yup, if that means I'm a melt, I'm a melt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfsTk5i7mPw

I’m sorry man, but every time I see you post in a politics thread I remember every time Alan Keyes ran for office and lol

Not sure that AOC isn't 'exactly as power a force in society' as table at this point. Democratic Party entryism has been a wet fart.

I love how merely calling attention to brazen hypocrisy gets me a lecture from Mr Practical.

I don't think this would qualify as brazen hypocrisy unless AOC has publicly identified as a pacifist.

And I don't mind being labelled as a pragmatist. This doesn't preclude my having ideals or working for them, but just recognizes what's possible within a given situation or circumstances and accepts interim goals rather than absolutism.

Pretty sure this is just constituent services. People who want to go to those service academies need their congressperson's approval.

huh, never knew that! details here, if anyone else was also curious.

^ exactly, thank you

Just coming here to say that:

If you want to apply to a service academy, you need a letter from your district rep. I don’t like that 16 year olds want to be 1st Lieutenants in the Navy either, but if what you want is AOC’s office to say “no kids from NY’s 14th can apply to West Point” you should say that. https://t.co/qaQwTYuidq

— isi baehr-breen (its pronounced ‘izzy’) (@isaiah_bb) March 20, 2023

This seems to be conflated with those assemblies where military dudes give a half hour presentation and try to get you to enlist as a grunt

I'd be surprised if there weren't military recruiters in attendance to answer kids' questions with misleading half-truths and outright lies.

but if what you want is AOC’s office to say “no kids from NY’s 14th can apply to West Point” you should say that.

Wild guess but I think table is fine with that line.

i mean these aren't kids who have never thought of the military and are suddenly like 'sounds good', these are people already wanting to attend these places and needing the appropriate recommendations.

i'm a pacifist myself but good luck getting re-elected if you tell your constituency what they can and can't do.

I think the lesson is that politicians are bad and shouldn't be trusted

how do the pragmatic realist types reconcile their hope for reform with the reality that support for the military is apparently non-negotiable for everyone in this position?

Just wondering what percentage of the left wants the military to disappear entirely

I mean right now, not under perfect conditions

US liberals like to brush off foreign policy and military stuff like it's not their department and has nothing to do with them it's very weird

I don't know why the US left would want to keep the military around unless it's to a) keep doing imperialism or b) turn them into the new red army and I know which one of those is more likely

maybe some think they can avoid all this by just focusing on domestic policy but someone has to do the coup when a socialist president is elected

reconcile their hope for reform with the reality that support for the military is apparently non-negotiable for everyone in this position?

"Support for the military" is not incompatible with supporting reform of the military or reduction of the military's influence on foreign policy or redirection of money currently flowing to the military to other social needs. If you look around the progressive caucus I'm pretty sure you can locate some reps who believe in all those things and work for them. I'm not a student of AOC's position papers or voting record, but I'd say there's a good chance she would agree with reforming the budget away from our current levels of expenditure. But I won't swear to it.

I don't know why the US left would want to keep the military around unless it's to a) keep doing imperialism or b) turn them into the new red army and I know which one of those is more likely

I just wish there were more than two alternatives to every situation. It would open up a whole world of possibility that is denied to us.

what else would you have an army for

ask some ukrainians

i think an effective critique of empire starts with a willingness to confront the reality of the situation, not reflexively assuming that HS students of color in the bronx can only interact with the military as bamboozled victims. can we start there?

what else would you have an army for

― your original display name is still visible (Left),

To protect you from toxic masculine Lennon bros.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/11/22/22/50839717-10231701-image-m-31_1637619251919.jpg

Storming the beaches

only one is alt right choad iirc

https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/Z7FVZmFrd7Wvtt6nDcl079KUotA/fit-in/2048xorig/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-/2019/09/22/067/n/44498184/tmp_eM9m3Q_f5bd6e1f955499fe_TCDRENI_EC011.jpg
?

I quite literally want all branches of the US military abolished.

west point should be burnt to the fucking ground, that shouldn’t be a controversial statement

so there's one

ask some ukrainians

It's true, the US lives under constant fear of its larger, more powerful neighbour (Canada).

We've now moved from "this is a military recruitment fair" to "she didn't take a stand saying we ought to abolish the military aka she a sellout"

These are your only two choices - sellout or Marxist champion

um, the US military is providing some very much needed assistance to the ukrainians atm, which would not have been possible in the complete absence of a US military, so there's that to consider besides the Canadian Peril

I quite literally want all branches of the US military abolished.

I'd settle for a pony.

We can do what we always do and primary AOC to get someone more progressive in and when vote-splitting allows a 73 year old center-right guy who was an officer in Nam wins the district, express shock and dismay.

(I'm not having a go at anyone here but SocTwitter is full of this nonsense)

I can’t believe someone who has never had a kind word to say about AOC’s politics is continuing to not have a kind word to say about AOC’s politics.

um, the US military is providing some very much needed assistance to the ukrainians atm, which would not have been possible in the complete absence of a US military

lol, c'mon man

We've now moved from "this is a military recruitment fair" to "she didn't take a stand saying we ought to abolish the military aka she a sellout"

― hootenanny-soundtracking clusterfucks about milking cows (Neanderthal), Monday, March 20, 2023 3:17 PM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I didn't say this, tho.

*I* said that *I* want the military to be abolished. I was partly raised by two of the founding members of a state Veterans for Peace chapter, one of whom was arrested more than 30 times over the course of her life due to peacefully protesting the US imperial war machine. I went to a Quaker high school. Because of these and other factors, I come at this issue from a place that is strident but shouldn't be radical, yet somehow remains so because even the liberals in this country worship borders and have hard-ons for "spreading democracy" (aka engaging in imperial wars or proxy wars via military contractors).

It's a military recruitment fair whether reps need to sign off or not— she could do the right thing and refuse, but she won't because of the way politics works in this country. That isn't something that's just practical sense, that's fucking abysmal.

So, do I understand *why* she's doing this? Sure.

Do I think it's right? Fuck no, and I believe it compromises her stances against such recruitment elsewhere. Pardon me for being consistent in my beliefs.

You said you were calling attn to AOC’s “brazen hypocrisy” but you were actually accusing her of not living up to your personal ideals

From what I have read of your thoughts on ilx I would never accuse you of inconsistency in your beliefs, table. you are the soul of consistency and you never waver from demanding what is right and just. I expect you will continue to do so throughout the remainder of your life. I wish you luck in achieving your demands.

lol, c'mon man

ok, don't take my word. just ask some ukrainians