“Stop trying to navigate systems of power and start building your own party.”
ExpressDigest
She came. She saw. She conquered.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dominated the South by Southwest conference with her mere presence, bringing in a larger crowd than any of the 2020 presidential contenders, all of whom were asked about her or her Green New Deal in their own sessions at the popular event.
The 2,000 plus ballroom – one of the biggest in the Austin Convention Center – was packed, the overflow rooms were flooded with attendees and Bill Nye tweeted a photo of himself from the room waiting to hear the freshman Democrat from New York speak.
She spent much of her talk decrying the treatment of minorities.
“We seek and prioritize profit and the accumulation of money above all else … above any human and environmental cost. To me that ideology is unsustainable and it cannot be redeemed.”
The crowd rose to its feet, whooping, cheering and hollering when Ocasio-Cortez entered, but, when she spoke, you could hear a pin drop.
Her one-hour talk was filled with economic policy, social policy and what she’s learned in her two months as a member of Congress.
But her bigger message was one of hope, inclusion and equality, particularly for minorities.
She slammed the treatment of minorities throughout recent American history from Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, which she claimed was racist, to Ronald Reagan’s treatment of minorities.
She decried the idea of incrementalism, a belief in change via small steps, and said it took big sweeping ideas to make a difference.
‘This idea of like 10 percent better than garbage shouldn’t be something we settle for,’ she said.
The crowd cheered her on. …
- AOC Surprised By Bill Nye At SXSW — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez answers Bill Nye’s questions about climate change and how to counteract fear at #SXSW. Link to 8-Minute Video
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Warns Veteran Democrats
The Young Turks (3/8/19)
“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is defending reports that she warned fellow House Democrats who vote in bipartisan ways that they may be ‘putting themselves on a list’ during an interview with NY 1.
The alleged threat came after some Democratic congressmen voted in favor of a Republican amendment to their gun control bill.
“So what happened this week was that there was a Republican procedural maneuver called motion to recommit. The thing about this is that it happens about 5 minutes before passage of major legislation. In this case, it’s ‘H.R.A.’ the gun safety legislation that advocates have been working on for years to get to the floor of the House and so for months and months people are working on this legislation,’ she explained.”
Link to Story and 10-Minute Video