Let me preface this post by saying that I’m not exactly a “fan” of Representative Ocasio-Cortez (AOC for short) or her political stances on most issues. I think her “New Green Deal”, while not necessarily ill-conceived as a policy, contains a great deal of political naivety.
Like many millennials, she could stand to read Robert Greene’s book 48 Laws of Power and heed LAW #45: PREACH CHANGE BUT NEVER REFORM QUICKLY (see source at https://improvementpower.com/blog/48-laws-of-power-list)
Change takes time for people to accept because like an old pair of shoes or an old recliner, human nature loves the comfort of the familiar, but abhors rapid and sudden change. Some people abhor change when it shatters their perception on who they think should hold power, influence, or wealth, and therein lies the crux of why conservatives and some old guard liberals don’t just hate AOC, but actually fear what she is, a flesh and blood harbinger of…
Minorities and women gaining the power to truly change and influence things.
Put whatever you think of AOC (or President Barack Obama before her) and her politics aside for a moment and consider this point…
There are far, far more white and/or male liberal/progressives in positions of power in Washington who don’t garner nearly as much attention or draw nearly as much ire as AOC and her fellow freshmen congressmen seem to.
Even Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is apprehensive of AOC and her ilk because age, and therefore time, are on AOC’s side and not hers. People tend not to yield power easily or willingly no matter which side of the ideological aisle they are on. While publicly lauding the new diversity injected into Congress in 2018, I’m sure privately, the writing is on the wall…
The future is now and it will be different from what was politically or aesthetically palatable in the past and that scares people on both sides of the ideological aisle.
Some people just show it more explicitly than others.
Power is fleeting and times can and always do change.
-The Rational Ram
The Rational Ram 