Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) is the current wunderkind in left-of-center circles it appears to me. She’s also *very* engaged with Twitter and social media. In fact, if there’s one thing Republicans need to do is to observe how she interacts online. Perhaps we can learn a thing or two to emulate.
She’s an intelligent, witty, and attractive woman who isn’t afraid to engage the leadership of her own party or the opposition to challenge the status quo. She’s quickly becoming the face of democratic socialism that a lot of people my age and younger are seemingly infatuated with. She’s become quite popular and has stepped out onto the national stage. Quite a feat for a freshman member of Congress of either party.
She’s someone we will probably keep an eye on if she inherits the mantle of democratic socialism from Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). We agree on very little politically, but she’s still an intriguing person to watch as my generation now begins to make its way into the halls of Congress. Although, it does sound like she and some of her freshmen colleagues are causing a bit of indigestion for the current Democratic leadership. As a Republican, it’s good to see the Democrats try to figure out what to do with their younger version of the TEA Party.
Ever since her election, I’ve seen news reports of how Republicans are sparring with her. Ed Rollins referred to her as “the little girl” on Lou Dobbs’ show to some reports have said “conservatives” are shaming her over a dance video she made nine years ago (although there hasn’t been evidence of this). Now, I have seen memes floating being passed around by conservative friends of mine that poke fun at her intelligence. They’re for cheap laughs, and they’re about as useful as the memes about former President Barack Obama, Secretary Hillary Clinton, etc. at spreading what the Republican Party is “for”. I want a party “for” moving the policy football towards the conservative end zone; not a party that creates lame memes that gets tittering from the talk radio crowd.
to some reports have said “conservatives” are shaming her over a dance video she made nine years ago (although there hasn’t been evidence of this). Now, I have seen memes floating being passed around by conservative friends of mine that poke fun at her intelligence. They’re for cheap laughs, and they’re about as useful as the memes about former President Barack Obama, Secretary Hillary Clinton, etc. at spreading what the Republican Party is “for”. I want a party “for” moving the policy football towards the conservative end zone not one for creating lame memes that gets tittering from the talk radio crowd.
I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. We, Republicans, need to promote what we are for: reducing the size of government and pushing governance as close to the citizen as possible, keeping taxes low, cutting spending (even though this seems to be a difficult thing to do in the Era of Trump), etc. We don’t agree with policies that Democrats advocate, but we need to do a better job of explaining what our policies are and how they benefit the American people.
We can dismiss Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez at our own peril, but mocking (or perceived mocking) from talking heads or through social media is only giving her a hammer to hit us with in the future. We need to stay on message and push for conservative policy and solutions. Engage and debate policy points, but don’t try to take cheap shots. We should and are better than that.