AOC and the GND

I've seen pundits question if conservatives are obsessing over Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez (AOC) (with implications that it's somehow because she's a brown woman). No, we're not obsessing over her but we are taking her very seriously. Certainly we like to share when she makes dumb remarks (nearly every time she opens her mouth) but it's not because of her gender or ethnicity. It's because the left takes her so seriously. She's been anointed the "Socialist It GIrl". Micheal Moore says she's the head of the Democratic Party. She's got more people paying attention to her on social media than any other member of Congress. And, in only her second month, she introduced a resolution that most of the Democratic presidential candidates have endorsed. So, we'd be fools not to take her seriously. She's a major force. She's also scary.

The rollout for the Green New Deal is an excellent example of why she's scary. It calls for a massive change in the relationship of the government and the governed. It does away with entire sectors of government and calls on the government to be the employer of last resort (or possibly first resort). It commits the government to spending many times the entire national income (GDP) with no funding source except loans and printing money. It would profoundly affect the life of nearly every citizen in the country. And when asked about the scope of this, she says that she's fine with it.

Then there's the rollout itself. The Green New Deal (GND) was rolled out in two parts. The official resolution had several co-sponsors. It's a general document. That's what the candidates have endorsed. There was also a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file that her office released at the same time. This went into a lot more detail about how the general resolution would be implemented. It also had some snarky sections which where immediately seized on. When asked about these parts, her staff originally claimed that they were fakes from conservative sites. After it was shown that the metadata listed AOC's chief of staff as the author they backtracked and said it was a draft document that was released by mistake.

It's far more likely that the FAQ is exactly what it was originally described as: details about how the GND would be implemented. Things like eliminating internal combustion vehicles are consistent with other public statements that AOC has made. One phrase, " economic security to all those who are unable or unwilling to work" got a lot of criticism. The actual text of the GND calls for economic security for all Americans". There is no exception for those unwilling to work so the two statements say the same thing.

So the FAQ represents AOC's vision for the GND. But she didn't bother to run it past any of her cosponsors or any of the candidates who endorsed it. So she left them hanging in the wind.

I can see two futures for AOC. Either the party will quickly tire of her and quash her or she will be President within a decade and the US as we know it will be gone by the end of her administration.

And that's why I take her seriously and find her scary.