Alexandria is often asked, "Are you becoming more establishment, or less progressive? How would you describe yourself?"
Take a look at how she answered in New York magazine, and if you can, make a $5 contribution to power her fight for transformative change.
For me, it's about reading the moment, seeing the conditions that are evolving in the country for political reasons, but also social, economic, technological, etc, and reading those conditions and responding according to — for how I navigate — one's core values and commitments.
I am progressive, but I also think that being a Democratic Socialist… that means something. It has a very defined perspective about who we believe the fruits of our economy and labor should primarily serve and belong to. It has baked in definitions about labor rights, and what our goals and aims are.
Progressive is the same thing. It's a definition that evolves with the times.
I'm in my third term, I know my way around this place more. I felt this way about tending bar for seven or eight years.
Your first day, you don't know what a speed well is. You don't know what to grab.
And so some of the stuff you do is good, some of the stuff you do is ineffective. You mess things up. You do things that other people didn't think of.
Now that I'm several years in, on one hand, I am more skilled and I'm able to do things.
But it's also true that the coverage and media interpretation about me has been wrong from the beginning — this totally reactionary, "The sky is falling, this lady is nuts, she's here to destroy everything" narrative. I made a very clear determination that the narrative about me was so big, and so overwhelming, that I was not going to waste my time trying to say, "You're all getting me wrong, you don't understand me," etc.
I just knew that it was going to take years of me being myself for my actions to accumulate into a body of analysis. At the end of the day, I haven't changed a single policy position that I originally ran on. I have all of the same exact convictions, values, policy commitments — I've just gotten better at executing on them.
And I understand that my role is in inside-outside political strategy. The left has built an increasingly sophisticated outside, but we have an anemic inside.
I feel like right now my role is to build a juggernaut of momentum.
And honestly: if we can get to a place where a regular old Democrat believes in trust-busting, and a regular old Democrat believes in a full path to citizenship, Medicare for All, combating climate change, and a Green New Deal — f*ck yeah. That's literally what my goal was from the beginning.
My goal has always been to bring the mainstream to me, and in the process, have my progressive beliefs be mainstream.
Our grassroots movement is pushing for bold, new ideas and accountability because our futures are worth fighting for. Our healthcare, our education, and our families are worth fighting for — and together, there is nothing we can't win.
In solidarity,
Team AOC
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