What are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Flaws?

Destroy CBP too.

Borders are tools of social control and resource hoarding, destroy those too.

people could really be pointing out more that ICE didn't even exist until 2003

well, i had written a longer post about why "abolish ICE" was more digestible to normies and that was one of the reasons. but i felt like i was justifying the "'abolish the police' made me lose my election" whine so i deleted it.

I'd say it's about equally digestible, the problem is that people are reluctant to get rid of anything that's "tradition," even if that "tradition" is extremely short-lived. if it exists, it always must have existed. same with the militarization of the police

(or with court-packing for that matter)

or with the United States as a country!

I think that's exactly right, katherine. I'd wager most people haven't thought very hard about police budgets and can't see a real difference between "defund" and "abolish," and that seems insanely radical and unprecedented to a lot of well-meaning people.

Also for lots of well meaning people it means people losing jobs, which never really flies.

To me it all means demilitarize the police which is a matter of both equipment forfeiture and reculturation, the latter needs to be especially aggressive

i think every city should have a big billboard with a chart showing police budget vs every other department's budget, paired with the line "when was the last time a cop helped you"

Genius. Aisling McCrea gets how to message. A nine word slogan just barely fits into the optimum range of length, but that one works. The visual component is crucial education, too.

that chart is even worse than it looks, too - they should have added the $60M "police overtime" line item to the $414M "police department" total

Dunno there might be value in "never mind the main budget...they spend more on OVERTIME than they do on [relatable thing that matters]"

yeah, the overtime and regular budgets should be colour-coded the same, to associate better, but it's very useful to see what a rort OT is. as I sort of noted upthread, a bar showing police legal settlements wld also be appropriate as a third tally: the ten largest PDs in the US collectively paid $250M in misconduct cases in 2014, which is an additional cost to taxpayers on top of their cities" actual budgets.

I am a progressive, and I think you need to develop a more conciliatory and cooperative attitude. I also think that you can't expect to be listen to immediately is the new kid on the block

— karen zimmerman (@ghostwriterkz) November 7, 2020

Literally Karen

I know it feels good to attack liberals and moderates from the left, but attacks do not build your numbers. Selling better policies that obviously will improve people's lives will build your numbers.

When you can't implement your policy goals on your own, you need allies to get somewhere. When the time comes, you can primary those who won't come along as allies, replace them and move forward. When you attack potential allies with no strategic aim but to show how much smarter you are all you do is marginalize yourself.

and awwwwaaaaayyyyyy we go!

lol never change Aimless

It’s good not bad to attack liberals and moderates from the left including Joe Biden

you can't have Medicare for all because milo posts bad tweets

every Dem representative not in the Progressive Caucus needs a primary challenger

If people ignore you because of your race, you should be friends with them.

It’s good not bad to attack liberals and moderates from the left including Joe Biden

You seem to think I equate "attacking a person" and "criticizing a policy". Maybe you do, but I don't.

I know it feels good to attack liberals and moderates from the left, but attacks do not build your numbers. Selling better policies that obviously will improve people's lives will build your numbers.

When you can't implement your policy goals on your own, you need allies to get somewhere. When the time comes, you can primary those who won't come along as allies, replace them and move forward. When you attack potential allies with no strategic aim but to show how much smarter you are all you do is marginalize yourself

Up to liberals and moderates to not take the bait each and every time too. None of that animosity prevented Pelosi to support Omar in a primary.

They’re bad people brent

with no strategic aim but to show how much smarter you are

If liberals and moderates do not support your goals, they are not "allies," they are in fact a hindrance.

that is like such a shitty line I can’t even xp

If liberals and moderates do not support your goals, they are not "allies," they are in fact a hindrance.

No one likes this amount of dogmatism, milo.

If anyone has a strategic aim in posting to ILX, they should seek help immediately.

are you talking about AOC?

god, no. she's shows she is smart by making smart moves and saying smart things, to get her closer to where she wants to go. she says scathing things about Freedom Caucus members when they cross a line, but she doesn't gratuitously shit on Pelosi's head.

Milo is like the mildest online leftist and y’all act like he’s calling for kidnappings

milo just shovels shit

xxp ah gotcha. I really need to... um... read threads

No one likes this amount of dogmatism, milo.

Which part is untrue? Joe Biden's public option, for instance, is both bad policy and an obstacle in the pursuit of single-payer healthcare. One does not, in fact, gotta hand it to the moderates on any point where they are making the world worse or obstructing the possibility of making it better.

At least shit-shoveling is honest work

plenty of shit to shovel tbf

Which part is untrue? Joe Biden's public option, for instance, is both bad policy and an obstacle in the pursuit of single-payer healthcare. One does not, in fact, gotta hand it to the moderates on any point where they are making the world worse or obstructing the possibility of making it better.

I can be super wrong about this, we'll see, anyone who is 100% certain they are right about it are deluding themselves anyway. I just don't see Biden's public option as an obstacle in the pursuit of the single-payer healthcare, in fact to me it's the genie out of the bottle and it won't go back inside. My prediction is that once the public option is settled and working, the electorate will understand how well single-payer works and how natural it is.

yeah i agree with that

it's AOC's job, going forward, to build a progressive coalition especially on issues like healthcare, a living wage, free college, etc

It’s called the congressional progressive caucus and it already exists and has half of the house dems in it

you can't have Medicare for all because milo posts bad tweets

and the best way to get Medicare for all is to scoop up your own feces and throw them at anyone who has questions, doubts or hesitations, as opposed to answering their questions, addressing their doubts and encouraging them to reconsider.

as for the defense that 'it's just the internet so it doesn't matter', that's just rationalizing behavior that would be ugly no matter where it appears. living in a society is impossible without being able to tone down raging emotions. children throw tantrums. adults should understand the value of pretending to be civil. even on the internet.

nah. it's hopeless. some of you will get what I'm saying. the same crew who never get it, will not get it now. I'm hitting submit anyway. It's my birthday tomorrow so I get to.

duh silby

The public option - which is irrelevant because of the Senate - wouldn't be "working," though. It requires obscenely high out of pocket costs, fails to control costs and would be constantly under attack as a failure of government as a result.

Biden's insistence on running on this bad policy and taking every opportunity to shit on single-payer is the obstacle to American healthcare ever being anything more than a treat for the wealthy.

How is even-handed rational dispassionate debate still anyone’s understanding of how the world works at this late date

Well first if the public option is irrelevant because of the Senate than what of single-payer.

Then, as imperfect as Obamacare was, and by so many metrics it's a worse system than the public option, it is still seen as a success and the right couldn't dismantle it thanks to its popularity.

Finally, single payer will forever be under attack as a failure of government, too. They already call it a failure in Canada despite the very fact that it isn't.

I have my disagreements with progressive but I didn't think 'it will be under attack by the idiots' will be an argument I'll see one day, you guys call yourselves socialists most of the time exactly because the strength is that you stop caring about what the other aisle think.

I understand how small a role rationality plays in most of life, including politics. But it is still a vital role. Remove rationality altogether and it's like pulling the keystone from an arch. You've still got all the stones you had before, but in a collapsed heap.