Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

[lpetrich]

Notes From a Winning Campaign - by Naureen Akhter in her blog Kitchen3N - mainly about her cooking.

NA met AOC at a Queens Stands Up rally on 2017 Jun 11.
Queens Stands Up Rally
Queens Stands Up Rally — CAIR New York

Let us come together for liberty and our democracy in this uncertain time. Our Constitution, the rule of law, and the truth are too important to be taken for granted. No person is above the law. This is our opportunity to stand up for American values.

"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." --Abraham Lincoln

It had a long list of liberal / progressive groups as its sponsors. NA continues:

I was struck by her patience – she waited in the sweltering heat, in heels and a black dress, while 2 hours of speeches went by, then went up to the podium, and made her case for the need for new leadership, new policies, and a new path forward for our country. She delivered her message powerfully.

Unlike the Democratic establishment, she offered paths forward: Medicare for All, criminal-justice reform, and an economy that involves renewable energy.

Then fast forward 8 months to 2018 February. AOC and her campaigners were collecting ballot signatures, and her campaign manager Vigie offered dos and don'ts, like don't offer cookies in exchange for signatures. NA discovered that as a field captain, she had a lot of work to do: coordinating campaigners, getting supplies for them, and ensuring that they did their jobs properly.

We waded through snow, dealt with many belligerent voters, but we also had a lot of good conversations: conversations with voters who had disengaged from the process, from folks who supported progressive bold legislation but didn’t know how to plug in, and from people who felt disillusioned by the process and wanted someone who was more in tune with working class struggles.

They learned good places and bad places for collecting signatures.

In the end, they collected some 5,000 signatures, over 4 times as many as the minimum of 1,250 signatures. Rather surprisingly, those signatures were not legally challenged, unlike many previous challenger petitions. The petition had some strict guidelines: "no abbreviations, need to initial by any mistakes, if just one signature is not a registered in-district Democrat the whole petition is tossed, etc."

The primary election was on June 26, unlike the other elections, and this time, it was to get people to vote in it:

... about our campaign – why we as volunteers were out in the 90 degree heat schlepping clipboards, palm cards and posters. Why we we felt it was time to get money out of politics, to support a candidate that refused corporate PAC money so she could legislate on behalf of her constituents, not on behalf of special interests. In an area experiencing skyrocketing costs of living, it was critical that we made the connection between the incumbent’s reliance on luxury real estate developers’ money and the free reign they have on the overdevelopment of the district.

Also a candidate who is willing to advocate bold policies instead of wringing her hands about how we can't do anything nice. The sort of thing that led to the Democrats losing 1,000 seats over Obama's presidency. He got re-elected, but that's about it.

Our team’s energy and enthusiasm was a stark contrast to our paid counterparts. Some of the canvassers from the incumbent’s team would hit up my mom and her neighbors and the messaging usually went: “Vote for Crowley, he stands up to Trump” or “He’s always stood up for immigrants”. Which are good things, but they don’t give voters something to look forward to, something to strive for.

Why many Democratic leaders' ideas are so stale? They've been in office 20, 30, or more years.

Some are even too old to understand the technology sector, the threats that automation poses to American workers, the potential of Facebook to inflict further harm on our rights to privacy, the talent/tools available to push progress in the public sector. It’s time we elect not just one progressive millennial, but a whole caucus of them.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC's campaign had plenty of former Bernie Sanders campaigners who were willing to do the work of the campaign. AOC herself was also a former Bernie Sanders campaigner.

Also a lot of software tools that helped them in the canvassing and their calling. Like "Justice Dialer": it dials someone's number, shows a script for interacting with the called one, and has a form to input details of one's interaction.

Also some ready-made databases: "Our first round of volunteers were wrangled from the database of supporters compiled by Justice Democrats – a platform developed soon after Nov 2016 to bolster candidates who rejected corporate money."

As the polls closed on election night, Alexandria reflected on the successes we had already achieved: expanding the definition of an off-year primary voter, educating and training hundred of volunteers in electoral campaigning, and starting a movement calling for the abolishment of ICE.

Even if she lost the election, she will have done a lot, she was saying.

But at 9:13, Politico reported that with 13% of precincts reporting, AOC was in the lead. Her lead held up with more and more counted, and they got texted from the other side "Congratulations".

I have to conclude with this: yes, everything fell into place in terms of timing, messaging, the talent of the team, but one thing that set this campaign apart from every other primary challenger on the ballot was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In terms of candidates, she is one in a million. As articulate as she is relatable. As intelligent as she is grounded in her advocacy. As charismatic as she is fierce. I can’t tell you how many people said “She’s talented! She’s not going to win, but she’s got a bright future ahead of her.” This campaign was as wildly successful as it was because of her. Our country and our party would be so lucky to elect more like her: clear eyed, righteous and courageous.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Some folks are saying I won for “demographic” reasons.
1st of all, that’s false. We won w/voters of all kinds.
2nd, here’s my 1st pair of campaign shoes. I knocked doors until rainwater came through my soles.
Respect the hustle. We won bc we out-worked the competition. Period. https://t.co/RbpQMYTiWY" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

We went over this before. What she is describing is actual socialism. When socialists like AOC talk about workplace/economic democracy, what they mean is a sort of  workers' self-management. It's not "they call it socialism but it's really social democracy". Don't be fooled - DSA are REAL socialists.

What's so terrible about "workers' self-management"? Is being involved in the management of one's work the most terrible thing in the world?

If one's self-employed, one has to manage one's own work, so by this argument, it would be very bad to be self-employed.

 

[Derec]

What's so terrible about "workers' self-management"? Is being involved in the management of one's work the most terrible thing in the world?

If one's self-employed, one has to manage one's own work, so by this argument, it would be very bad to be self-employed.

Those are very different things though. Imagine if all Walmart employees would get to vote on everything WalMart does - including what wages to pay. It would go bankrupt.

Employee-owned businesses work in some limited cases of smaller companies with mostly more skilled workers and as you mentioned individuals working for themselves. But it doesn't work when you try to base an entire economy on it.

 

[ZiprHead]

What's so terrible about "workers' self-management"? Is being involved in the management of one's work the most terrible thing in the world?

If one's self-employed, one has to manage one's own work, so by this argument, it would be very bad to be self-employed.

Those are very different things though. Imagine if all Walmart employees would get to vote on everything WalMart does - including what wages to pay. It would go bankrupt.

Employee-owned businesses work in some limited cases of smaller companies with mostly more skilled workers and as you mentioned individuals working for themselves. But it doesn't work when you try to base an entire economy on it.

The Employee Ownership 100: America's Largest Majority Employee-Owned Companies

Here's the top ten.:

1 Publix Super Markets Lakeland FL ESOP & Stock Purchase 1974 Supermarkets 200,000
2 Penmac* Springfield MO ESOP 2010 Staffing 27,850
3 Amsted Industries* Chicago IL ESOP 1986 Industrial components 18,000
3 Houchens Industries* Bowling Green KY ESOP 1961 Supermarkets & other services 18,000
3 WinCo Foods Boise ID ESOP 1985 Supermarkets 18,000
6 Parsons* Pasadena CA ESOP 1974 Engineering & construction 15,000
7 Black & Veatch Overland Park KS KSOP 1998 Engineering & construction 11,600
8 W.L. Gore & Associates Newark DE ESOP 1974 Manufacturing 10,720
9 Davey Tree Expert* Kent OH 401KSOP & ESOP 1979 Tree & environmental services 10,500
10 HDR, Inc.* Omaha NE ESOP 1996 Architecture & engineering 10,000

 

[Derec]

1 Publix Super Markets Lakeland FL ESOP & Stock Purchase 1974 Supermarkets 200,000

So about Publix. It offers employees an option to purchase stock in the company. It is not at all analogous to the self-management as a socialist concept such as the "organizations of collective labor".
As your list shows, there are no legal or other barriers to offer workers access to company ownership. So DSA demands for so-called "workplace democracy" are something VERY different.

 

[lpetrich]

Standing on a table? That's very β-esque of them.

Like Beto O'Rourke? I don't get the reference.

Whatever you may think of the Kochs, fossil fuels have been essential to build and maintain the modern world, and will remain necessary for a few more decades. You can't just flip a switch and conjure up a billion electric cars and millions of wind turbines and solar panels in an instant. That takes time. A long time. As well as minable metals like copper.

So what about our dependence on fossil fuels? Are you going to mourn when your local electric utility shuts down its last fossil-fuel-burning powerplant?

"Fossil fuel billionaires" - bad. Real estate developers - bad. Hedge fund billionaires that AOC took money from - good.

Tim Steyer donated using actblue, like many of her other donors. I don't have any objection to billionaires contributing in that fashion. AOC didn't have some expensive dinner with him in some wine cave somewhere.

 

[angelo]

Like Beto O'Rourke? I don't get the reference.

So what about our dependence on fossil fuels? Are you going to mourn when your local electric utility shuts down its last fossil-fuel-burning powerplant?

"Fossil fuel billionaires" - bad. Real estate developers - bad. Hedge fund billionaires that AOC took money from - good.

Tim Steyer donated using actblue, like many of her other donors. I don't have any objection to billionaires contributing in that fashion. AOC didn't have some expensive dinner with him in some wine cave somewhere.

She had no need to have a nice candle lit dinner with him in a cave as he'd already donated to her. The sinister George Soros is a multi billionaire who also donates vast amounts of money to left socialist causes.

 

[Patooka]

When it comes to billionaires who donate to political causes to further their own sinister agenda, Soros is small time. Almost insignificant in fact.

 

[Bomb#20]

The Employee Ownership 100: America's Largest Majority Employee-Owned Companies

Here's the top ten.:

1 Publix Super Markets Lakeland FL ESOP & Stock Purchase 1974 Supermarkets 200,000
2 Penmac* Springfield MO ESOP 2010 Staffing 27,850
3 Amsted Industries* Chicago IL ESOP 1986 Industrial components 18,000
3 Houchens Industries* Bowling Green KY ESOP 1961 Supermarkets & other services 18,000
3 WinCo Foods Boise ID ESOP 1985 Supermarkets 18,000
6 Parsons* Pasadena CA ESOP 1974 Engineering & construction 15,000
7 Black & Veatch Overland Park KS KSOP 1998 Engineering & construction 11,600
8 W.L. Gore & Associates Newark DE ESOP 1974 Manufacturing 10,720
9 Davey Tree Expert* Kent OH 401KSOP & ESOP 1979 Tree & environmental services 10,500
10 HDR, Inc.* Omaha NE ESOP 1996 Architecture & engineering 10,000

Workers' self-management is a species of owner-management. After the revolution it will be just as dead as regular owner-management. When the socialists come for Berkshire-Hathaway, Publix Super Markets and HDR, Inc. will say nothing because they are not Berkshire-Hathaway; subsequently, the socialists will come for Publix Super Markets and HDR, Inc., and no one will say anything because there will be no one left to. That's how human psychology plays out.

Workers' self-management is a popular cause among socialists for two reasons:

1. Some socialists are committed on principle to workplace democracy.

2. Other socialists in their hearts don't give a rat's ass about workplace democracy, and have only latched onto it as a political tactic for seizing the means of production from the rich, because some people being rich while others are poor offends their moral sensibilities.

After the revolution, when workers' self-management has been made compulsory and Berkshire-Hathaway has been turned over to its workers, some companies will prosper and make their new employee-owners rich, while others will struggle to survive and will make their employee-owners poorer than they'd been back in the days of regular owner-management. This will create a conflict of interest between the type 1 socialists and the type 2 socialists. This will create a power struggle between the type 1 socialists and the type 2 socialists. The type 2 socialists will win. They're more ruthless, and they're probably more numerous. But "workers' self-management" will not be abolished per se -- it will be redefined, as management by appointees of the representatives of "all the workers of the nation", i.e. management by appointees of the party of the type 2 socialists.

That's how it went down in Spain in the 1930s, at any rate.

 

[Derec]

Like Beto O'Rourke? I don't get the reference.

When the media treated β as hot shit, they covered some of his stunts like getting a haircut and a dentist visit on camera. Around that same time he was also speaking to people standing on tables on more than one occasion.

So what about our dependence on fossil fuels? Are you going to mourn when your local electric utility shuts down its last fossil-fuel-burning powerplant?

I am definitely NOT going to mourn it, but we have to be realistic. We simply won't be able to shut down last fossil-fuel-burning power plants until 2040 at the earliest, but probably not before 2050. That's 20-30 years from now. Getting rid of fossil fuels for transportation fuels will take even longer. Even if you could have 100% of all new cars and trucks sold be electric by 2035 (a very tall order), that would leave 2055 as the earliest you could even think about banning ICE vehicles from the roads as modern cars can easily last 20 years. It will be even more difficult to de-fossilize (and net decarbonize) air travel, and the most likely solution there are synfuels, probably short chain fatty alcohols like butanol.
But in any case, getting rid of fossil fuels will take decades. In the meantime, we need these fossil fuels. We need fossil fuel companies. We need fossil fuel investments. Which is why it is a horrible idea to demonize fossil fuel industry, by rejecting fossil fuel donations or to stigmatize fossil fuel investments or lending.

Tim Steyer donated using actblue, like many of her other donors. I don't have any objection to billionaires contributing in that fashion. AOC didn't have some expensive dinner with him in some wine cave somewhere.

What's wrong with having fundraisers? Whether a billionaire donates through actblue or at a winery fundraiser, the limit is the same. And AOC's statements went after the industry (fossil fuels), not mode of donation.
By the way, this wine cave thing by Elizabeth Warren was almost as stupid as her attack on Bernie a debate or two later.

 

[marc]

When it comes to billionaires who donate to political causes to further their own sinister agenda, Soros is small time. Almost insignificant in fact.

IIRC Soros used his money to fight against communist regimes in Europe. But republicans want to make him out to be the big commie threat (or if they are being honest about what they think, the big Jewish threat)

 

[angelo]

Conservatives should really thank morons such as AOC for showing Americans, by providing a textbook example of socialists' pathological ambition to seize control of the economy by such loony policy like the The Green New Deal

This her trademark style of speaking." Millennials and people, you know, Gen Z and all those folks that will come after us are looking up and we're like: The world is going to end in twelve years if we don't address GW/CC/CD [my italics] and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it? And like, this is war-this is our World War 11."

The Labor party recently received their lowest primary vote in 85 years in last May's Federal election in Australia, with almost similar policy, and refusing to place a price on their madcap policy of fighting GW/CC/CD at any cost.

I believe Americans will see through the doom and gloom preachers and vote the same way.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC didn't show up for the Women's March last Saturday, but she did show up for some MLK Day events today.

She retweeted
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II on Twitter: "If we are to honor and love Martin Luther King, we must be clear about who he was. In this historical moment, we especially need to remember the real Martin Luther King, because there are a lot of false portraits that are being pandered in the public square. #MLKDay #MLKDay2020 https://t.co/sGMpWHdSEX" / Twitter

Also retweeted
NowThis on Twitter: "‘Politicians can’t say they love Dr. King and how he stood for love and unity, but then…refuse to support his agenda.’ — This reverend called out his governor for celebrating MLK day, but supporting Trump’s hateful policies on every other day https://t.co/psaJVsOKcN" / Twitter

Ava DuVernay on Twitter: "Proud of this work. Join us for our annual celebration via livestream or at Riverside Church in NYC today.
Everyone from @AOC to Ta-Nehisi Coates, J-Cole to @NHannahJones, Marshawn Lynch to [MENTION=854]Dawn[/MENTION]Lyen, Andre Holland to @Yahya. And the great Ryan Coogler.
Onward! https://t.co/SD8vUUeFYc" / Twitter
noting
Blackout for Human Rights on Twitter: "Happy #MLKDay 2020! We're thrilled to share that #MLKNow will be live streamed starting at 2 PM ET: [url]https://t.co/O2eGP35Mqy! https://t.co/ljUHwtwv2d" / Twitter[/url]
I'll have to catch it later.

 

[lpetrich]

But AOC spoke somewhere else before then.

Benjamin Perry on Twitter: "“People say, ‘You don’t have a plan,’ but that’s not the issue.
There isn’t a sufficient commitment to the poor. There isn’t a sufficient commitment to ending white supremacy; to ending war.
It’s not a plan problem, it’s a commitment problem.” - @AOC https://t.co/aM4MTRknin" / Twitter

Benjamin Perry on Twitter: "Can’t think of a better way to spend MLK Day than listening to @AOC sing new refrains of Dr. King’s glorious chorus. https://t.co/SSks9PEjUA" / Twitter
With a picture of the two.

Benjamin Perry on Twitter: "“We can’t sit around and use the high school history version of Dr. King.
King’s life did not end because he said ‘I have a dream.’ It ended because he was dangerous to the core injustices of this nation...
If we want to honor him, we have to be dangerous too.” - @AOC #MLKDay https://t.co/FTk99061g8" / Twitter
Because the US has a heck of a lot of racial unfinished business.

BP continued:
Benjamin Perry on Twitter: "Glad people are spreading @AOC’s words, calling us back to the true Dr. King.
But really, folks, read in context. She’s pleading we be dangerous to injustice, not inciting hate.
If you want to denounce violence, look to Richmond—and the man cheering from the Oval Office." / Twitter
A pro-gun rally that day.

Benjamin Perry on Twitter: "“Everything I fight for comes from [King].”
Folk who condemn @AOC today would have denounced Dr. King.
Her commitment to living wages, ending war, and universal healthcare are what it looks like to live into his legacy.
If they offend you, you should ask yourself why. #MLKDay https://t.co/XSHTvZ4JL2" / Twitter
Some people insinuate that she likes Karl Marx, but she was profoundly influenced from reading MLK's books at a young age - she even spoke on his legacy back in 2011.

Benjamin Perry on Twitter: "“I remember driving away from [Standing Rock] and thinking, ‘Lord, use me as a vessel.’ I asked God to use me, but didn’t know how.
And as I drove, I got the email asking if I would run for office.” - @AOC describing the spiritual roots of her congressional race https://t.co/R2NwP85UzV" / Twitter
Seems like Joan of Arc, who heard voices that she was sure came from angels and saints.

Benjamin Perry on Twitter: "“That is what the frontline of faith work is. That is what acts of faith are.” - @AOC, preaching the gospel https://t.co/FEoyXPVFgO" / Twitter
noting
Middle Church on Twitter: "“What we imagine as an advanced society is one where all people can eat, one where all people are house, one where our society has established peace.
We have that technology today. What we need to do is advance morally and ethically.” - @AOC #MLKDay2020 https://t.co/V4QzF9ceDO" / Twitter
She talked about what one sees presented in TV shows like the Star Trek franchise.

 

[lpetrich]

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons on Twitter: "As she was leaving Standing Rock, @AOC thought "Lord, just do with me what you will. Allow me to be a vessel." That was the moment she was asked to run for Congress. "I knew I was being told to run."
Video via Rev. @KajiDousa from an #MLKDay faith leader breakfast this morning: https://t.co/ftG8Yexomf" / Twitter

She talked about how spiritually transformative her Standing Rock visit had been for her, though she didn't know what to do next. She said about running that even if it didn't win, it would be to help make one's community more organized. She won, and unlike Obama, she didn't throw away her movement of followers.

She remembered that event elsewhere:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Talks Winning Congressional Primary Election in New York

So how did she get here? It started with a simple phone call.

"I was nominated at first by a group called Justice Democrats. They were trying to essentially field non-corporate candidates in the 2018 midterm election,” she says. “They were looking for people with a history of community service and my name had come across their desk, and they called.”

It was the right call, at the right time. “I had actually just gotten off of camp at Standing Rock. I was there with the Lakota Sioux and all of the Native peoples that were really standing up to protect the water supply in the Midwestern United States,” she says. “That experience was very personally important and transformative, and I kind of left feeling like I had to do more, and I didn’t know what that was. When I got that call, I just felt like, 'OK, the universe is telling me something, so I’m going to listen.'"

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Historic Win and the Future of the Democratic Party | The New Yorker

Just out of high school, Ocasio-Cortez had done some volunteer work as a phone-bank caller for the Obama campaign in 2008, but she devoted much more time to the Sanders campaign in 2016. She helped find a site for a Bronx campaign headquarters, in an old nail salon, and started knocking on doors. She met activists from all over the city: community organizers, Black Lives Matter leaders, members of various unions, environmentalists, feminists, L.G.B.T.Q. campaigners, democratic socialists. After Sanders failed to overtake Clinton, some of his staff started an organization, called Brand New Congress, with the aim of recruiting candidates in the Bernie mold to run for the House and the Senate. For the B.N.C. activists, Sanders had shown that a non-corporate, “small dollar” campaign based on a left-wing agenda could win, and not only in traditionally left-leaning districts.

At first, B.N.C. wanted to field candidates for every congressional seat. One of the group’s founders, a Harvard graduate and former Silicon Valley techie named Saikat Chakrabarti, went on “The Rachel Maddow Show” to launch the effort. Soon, applications flooded the B.N.C. Web site, eleven thousand in all. One of them came in the fall of 2016 from Gabriel Ocasio-Cortez. He was writing on behalf of his older sister. Alexandria smiled and recalled that her brother had asked her if he could send in the form and, on a lark, she said O.K. “But I was also working in a restaurant!” she said. “I mean, it’s one of these things where it was, like, ‘Eff it. Sure. Whatever.’ ”

In late December, 2016, Isra Allison, one of B.N.C.’s lead organizers, called Ocasio-Cortez just as she was leaving an anti-pipeline demonstration in Standing Rock, North Dakota. “She told me what B.N.C. was about,” Ocasio-Cortez recalled. “I was just, like, ‘O.K., I’m listening.’ By that time, they had policy plans, and Sanders was the political shorthand.” Ocasio-Cortez e-mailed Allison a video of a speech she had made at Boston University on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day and a description of her work as a waitress: “Having that small business experience opened my eyes to TONS of issues—from labor law, to immigration. . . .”

 

[lpetrich]

Union Seminary on Twitter: "“Our human technology has not caught up to our scientific technology. Our moral technology has not caught up to our economic technology.”- @AOC speaks to NYC clergy on #MLKDay about dire need for ethical progress.
We have the means to change, we need the will to do what’s right. https://t.co/XVfzOgH4iV" / Twitter
She notes how it is considered widely acceptable for tens of millions of Americans to live in poverty to enable a few people to be billionaires.

Jack Jenkins on Twitter: "For the curious: the reported influence of Standing Rock on @AOC (and a LOT of other people) also shows up on my forthcoming book. Standing Rock was (and is) an unapologetically religious/spiritual movement. Period. https://t.co/m13owAavSt" / Twitter

Jack Jenkins on Twitter: "Oh, in case you missed it: I wrote a book.
It's called "American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country."
It's on the Religious Left, comes out in April, and you can preorder it here: https://t.co/M47Yat88my" / Twitter
Splash page:
American Prophets

But, as national religion reporter Jack Jenkins contends, the country is also driven by a vibrant, long-standing moral force from the left. Constituting an amorphous group of interfaith activists that goes by many names and takes many forms, this coalition has operated since America’s founding — praying, protesting, and marching for common goals that have moved society forward. Throughout our history, the Religious Left has embodied and championed the progressive values at the heart of American democracy—abolition, labor reform, civil rights, environmental preservation.

He then goes on to discuss how "Today’s rapidly expanding interfaith coalition — which includes Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and other faiths — has become a force within the larger “resistance” movement."

Jack Jenkins on Twitter: "1. @AOC addresses faith leaders this AM for MLK Day, explaining that Standing Rock was a *spiritual experience* that inspired her to run for office.
“I remember leaving that camp and thinking: Lord just do with me what you will, allow me to be a vessel.” https://t.co/l7C1GzIe2X" / Twitter

Kaji Douša - Live with #AOC at #MLKDay faith leader breakfast

I watched it, and what wasn't excerpted was also interesting, like her saying that her colleagues ask her what is her plan for dealing with this and that. She says that what's important is to have a commitment, and that plans will follow. Poverty and hopeless are not laws of nature, but the result of our decisions.

 

[lpetrich]

I looked in Kaji Douša's posts, and I found

I’m honored to have met the incredible Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez at the Micah Faith Table Breakfast for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, where she spoke of faith in movements—with power & passion. She’s stands with Ravi Ragbir & New Sanctuary Coalition #abolishICE #youcantdeportamovement

I looked for the New Sanctuary Coalition and its Facebook page describes it as

The New Sanctuary Coalition is an interfaith network of congregations, organizations and individuals, standing publicly in solidarity with families and communities resisting detention and deportation in order to stay together.

New Sanctuary Coalition - "Keeping families together and advocating against deportations"

Another video of AOC at that Micah Faith Table Breakfast event with someone introducing her. Meryl Lynn introduced it with "STOP what you are doing & watch AOC at the Martin Luthor King Jr. Faith Leader Breakfast."

I tracked down this organization: Micah Institute - "Micah convenes, educates and organizes New York City multi-faith leaders to create and use a coordinated, cohesive and collective prophetic voice to build a movement to fight poverty and injustice."

She was introduced by a certain Rev. Dr. Raymond Rivera of the Latino Pastoral Action Center, Co-Chair Micah Roundtable (above org) - yesterday was MLK Sunday at a church - he had a meeting with her that was supposed to be 45 m but lasted 3 h. He claims that she agreed with him that she is where she is by the grace of God. She's not supposed to be where she's at, to have the platform that she does. So he prefers to believe that God is in some way at work. She refers to that talk - 45m to 3h - it was about this moment and where we are today. She spent the morning "in regression/progression", because MLK Day is very important to her personally, very spiritual. She often contemplates how to talk about her spiritual life, and she doesn't want to cheapen it or use it as currency. Then she got into how she went to Standing Rock.

 

[lpetrich]

MLK Now 2020 - YouTube Ta-Nehisi Coates and AOC appear in it over 1:34:00 - 2:24:00

They started off about war, and how the US has been in nearly nonstop wars over most of AOC's life. She suspects that there is some class that benefits from those wars that is hard to dislodge. On Trump's wanting to target cultural sites, AOC thought of it a lot, and he concluded that it's a desire to erase others' history and understanding. She also talked about preference for Americans' lives over others' lives, like the 250,000 Iraqis who died in the Iraq War. She suspects that the military learned a lesson from the Vietnam War, not to televise its actions.

She thinks that ballot-box politics often catches up to what activists are doing, like Black Lives Matter activists. About the gun-rights protest in Richmond, VA - hardly any cops. While BLM and other protests on the Left often have oodles of cops in riot gear. She suspects that a lot of Democratic Party officials consider activism a "nuisance". Republicans in swing districts dig in their heels, while Democrats in such districts try to act like conservatives. Need both activism and being in office.

TNC then suspected that a reason that Republicans embrace their activists and Democrats don't is because of the influence of Wall Street - big-money donors. Like having fancy dinners in wine caves with fancy chandeliers. AOC said that the Democratic Party is not a "left party" but a "center or center-conservative party". "We can't even get a floor vote for Medicare for All." Even one that gets voted down.

She thinks it "flawed" that we can capitalism our way out of poverty. She noted two-party vs. multiparty systems, even if she was unfamiliar with Duverger's law. She thinks that people can identify more easily with some party in a multiparty system. Then Puerto Rico and how PROMESA extracts wealth created in that island for Wall Street, not leaving much for that island. How many Puerto Ricans don't feel that the US government doesn't care for them very much. She stands by her describing PR as a colony of the US.

Then on some rich person saying that he knows better about how to manage his resources than the government does. AOC was very critical of that. To her, it was like saying that businesses must be exploitative, that we can't have worker-owned cooperatives. Then, at least in theory, that the government is the people. Then about billionaires, that they don't do the actual work, that it was their employees who did it, and often underpaid ones. "So no one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars." - the exact opposite of the Randroid theory so popular among capitalism apologists, that it is business leaders who are the real workers in their businesses.

She doesn't mean to imply that all billionaires are corrupt, however, just that the nature of the system produces grotesque concentrations of wealth. After how political and economic systems come and go, "No one talks about the dangerous King. No one talks about the anti-capitalist King. No one talks about the anti-poverty King." Then about how we are at the edges of an untenable system that is starting to crack. She doesn't consider charity wrong, but she asks where the money will go. As to what a billionaire could do, she says that she wouldn't want his money, but instead that he reform his business so that employees have more of a say in it. Like worker cooperatives. "I don't want your money as much as we want your power. The people, not me ... that's going to get cut and clipped."

She likes what unions fought for in the early 20th cy: 8 hours of work, 8 hours of leisure, and 8 hours of sleep. Those 8 hours could be used for family and community activities. But that's been eroded with increasing work hours.

She talked about having the more luxurious sorts of things -- that it's having something that one is not supposed to have. She talked about how when she got to her Congress office, that she felt that she was not supposed to have that office plaque, that she slipped in through a crack in the system. So TNC's Jordans are OK - "live in it while fighting for a better world."

How AOC and "the Squad" react to the violence-tinged hostility that she gets. She concedes that it does take a toll. But it's the sort of toll for being an activist. Did AP lose her hair from stress? AOC lost 10 lbs during her campaign. Then about how the four Squad members have decided to be a sisterhood that's committed to each other. It doesn't mean complete unity, however.

She doesn't know if she'll have a career in politics. People talk to her all the time about running for higher office, like the Senate or the Presidency, and she says that she gets into too much trouble for that. She came out of a breakfast with some Bronx clergy, and she didn't get into politics with a plan. But she has less of a plan and she's waiting to see what the plan is for her. It could be packing up her bags and moving to some cabin in the wilderness and being something like a lumberjack. "I don't know what shape or or what form my life will take, and I don't impose a plan on it, because I have given it - myself, personally - in my context of things - I have given it to a higher power."

TNC decided that that was a good place to stop, and the conversation ended.

There are already lots of snippets of that conversation on Twitter. Also that that Bronx-clergy breakfast, she almost seemed to be saying that her trip to Standing Rock was somehow supernaturally rigged.

 

[Derec]

MLK Now 2020 - YouTube Ta-Nehisi Coates and AOC appear in it over 1:34:00 - 2:24:00

You mean the guy who wants to be given free money just because he is black?

She thinks that ballot-box politics often catches up to what activists are doing, like Black Lives Matter activists.

I sure hope not! #BLM are nothing but a bunch of apologists for thugs like Michael Brown, Mario Woods, Quanice Hayes and the like.

About the gun-rights protest in Richmond, VA - hardly any cops. While BLM and other protests on the Left often have oodles of cops in riot gear.

First off, it is wrong to say that there were "hardly any cops". And second, the gun-rights protest was peaceful, unlike the #BLM riots that lead to scenes like these, so more aggressive police presence is appropriate.


You don't see images like that coming from Richmond.

TNC then suspected that a reason that Republicans embrace their activists and Democrats don't is because of the influence of Wall Street - big-money donors. Like having fancy dinners in wine caves with fancy chandeliers. AOC said that the Democratic Party is not a "left party" but a "center or center-conservative party". "We can't even get a floor vote for Medicare for All." Even one that gets voted down.

Not again with the "wine cave" nonsense! Both parties need to support business ("the business of America is business"). And no business wants a climate where extremist rioters are given space to destroy as the former Democratic mayor of Baltimore put it.

She thinks it "flawed" that we can capitalism our way out of poverty.

Capitalism has lifted billions out of poverty over the last two centuries. Socialism leads to gasoline (not to mention food and toilet paper) shortages in the country with arguably largest oil reserves on the planet.

Then on some rich person saying that he knows better about how to manage his resources than the government does. AOC was very critical of that.

AOC: All your resource mean of production are belong to us!
Capitalist: What you say!!