What are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Flaws?

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

Sure I'll go find "some ukranians".

US private weapons of death industry - are making a killing no doubt. Yes, Ukraine are also benefitting from the situation in terms of holding off a very fucking horrible invasive war of annihilation. But what has this any of this got to do with the US army?

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

anyway the Ukraine issue is a big diversion from the fact that so called liberal left US politicians, with massive led by donkeys energy and little else are never going to change fuck all for the people that desperately need change.

Here's what she said in 2020:

“It’s incredibly irresponsible for the Army and the Navy to be recruiting impressionable young people and children via live streaming platforms," Ocasio-Cortez told Motherboard. "War is not a game, and the Marine Corps’ decision not to engage in this recruiting tool should be a clear signal to the other branches of the military to cease this practice entirely.”

Seems like she objected to this particular recruitment tool rather than to recruitment in general.

“In a statement, Ocasio-Cortez’s office told Teen Vogue that “a wide variety of opportunities” will be presented to students at the March 20 event, “from the Congressional Art and App competitions to internships with our office.” According to the statement, the presence of multiple military service academies at the fair was meant to allow applicants to receive the necessary nomination letters from their congressional representatives, “a traditionally elite and complex process which is too often most accessible to those from connected, affluent backgrounds,” and would not include military enlistment tables”

Nor tables of any sort

This is a far cry from my rural high school where the military recruiters would hang out every lunch break talking to the farm kids

I’m guessing it was bit different at Quaker high schools

Me and my friend, the other commie weirdo in the school, would laugh at them until they acted like they going to beat us up.

I never saw a recruiter on campus, they just opened an office in the strip mall across the street next to the church that gave free lunches every week if you listened to a sermon.

these got handed out in the halls every day for a year though

https://www.surge.com/content/dam/nagbrands/us/surge/en/surge/surge-16oz.png

lucky, we just had one single day where the Surge street team came to lunch, yelled out SUUUUUUUURGE and everybody rushed their table to get a free can of this exciting new soda.

Do they have Lemon Incest flavor?

I can remember going into a British Army recruiting centre drunk on cider with some daft friends when I was 13 and taking the piss out of it all. Big tache-faced army cunt says "we kick shit of the army, we don't take them in ... Now FUCK OFF!". I've barely budged an inch, politically since the age of 13, which will no doubt please condescending tedious wankers like Aimless!

No one in my graduating class died in Iraq but 12 lost a foot to diabetes.

read what you're saying

coming out against military recruitment of poor young people

then read what she's saying

a traditionally elite and complex process which is too often most accessible to those from connected, affluent backgrounds

then tell me that you're not infantilizing non-white folks

Ah yes, the moment where someone argues that making it easier for ALL people to become cannon fodder is real equality. Miss me with that.

The (academy) recruits in question are children, no?

haha milo I totally forgot in college getting the full court press on Surge every day

a more interesting question would be: how do we sustain a systemic critique of american imperialism while also recognizing that its tentacles intersect with industry in a way that disproportionately provides upward mobility for the white kids graduating as officers?

but that probably isn't as satisfying as telling HS students from the bronx that you know what's best for them.

i agree with you on the fundamentals here, i think. i'm just asking you to think clearly about the situation and what you're actually saying.

The (academy) recruits in question are children, no?

Graduation from a military service academy has measurable perquisites within US society that can put you on an escalator to financial and professional success, if you are inclined to take advantage of them. Those "children" who see and understand this reality are not mistaken that this is a very different upward path from simply enlisting in one of the service branches.

while also recognizing that its tentacles intersect with industry in a way that disproportionately provides upward mobility for the white kids graduating as officers?

A more diverse Lockheed Martin VP corps does not seem like an issue worth concerning ourselves with.

Gutting Lockheed’s military contracts OTOH…

lame and embarrassing post