I think the work she and Bernie are engaged in at the moment is more important than a run for president. In order to rebuild America for the working masses we need to start at the grass roots and begin reshaping the base of a party who has lost its way. If you want government for the people then it must be run by the people it represents. The wealthy have taken over the direction of the country because we let them. Bernie and AOC are going to the places that we lost to Trump in the last election and activating a frustrated mass of people to change the weight of the congress so we have some control over the laws and spending in our country. There is no better place for AOC to be but by Bernie's side, to stimulate the disenfranchised among us. Good on them. I support the work they are doing for our country. God bless democracy.
Democrat Women candidates are 0 for 2. First it was the white woman who lost. Then it was the black woman who lost. AOC would be the brown woman who lost. Now if we were to run a trans woman...we might get somewhere.
The democrats cannot run another woman, a non white person or an old white person. I am not prejudice and I am a woman. It is obvious that the GOP is prejudice and anti-woman so for this reason a woman or a non white candidate for U.S. president is a loosing position. At least this next election for President needs to be a youngish, decent human being and a white male.
Respectfully, Judy... If we're going to be giving the GOP everything they want, what is the purpose of having an "opposition party", in the first place? Why even bother?
Beat the GOP over and over again until it collapses and a new republican party can be rebuild it! A woman can’t win in this climate. Neither can a person of colour. The country is going to want someone younger next time.
I think some of the biggest over performance was seen by female Senators, Governors and members of Congress. I think Trump has a unique charisma and ability to bring out a lot of disengaged voters it held back Hillary and Harris
I’m not a leftist so I won’t feel bad if you dismiss my comment.
The Left will never ever win elections until it stops demanding purity and considering everyone else evil. Most of the Left voices I read or hear who rather stab a moderate Democrat in the back than take on a Republican. Most Left writers and activists would rather be righteous than produce results.
I like some of your solutions to problems and agree with some of your assessments of current economic and social systems.
Get off your high horse and convince people you are right by listening and discussing rather than accusing everyone of being disingenuous corporate shills.
There's an incredible irony in your comment... You're painting with broad strokes about "The Left", and accusing the people in this article of "accusing everyone of being disingenuous corporate shills" - which not a single one of them has done... And your prescription is: "Get off your high horse and convince people you are right by listening and discussing".
Do you not see that you are doing the exact thing you're accusing us of, yourself? In no way are you "getting off your high horse" or "listening" - you're making broad accusations and accusing a group of people of something they never did.
I would encourage you to be more specific with your feedback, abandon the "broad strokes" so you can have a more genuine and searching dialog. It would help everyone.
I appreciate your willingness to engage. I’m interested in reading your Substack.
I chose “corporate shill” because I’ve heard it spoken by activists in the Chicago area and I’ve read it in the posts and comments of DailyKos. Is that really not a commonly used phrase by left activists/writers to delegitimize the actions and opinions of moderate Democrats? If it isn’t common, I retract that example.
Why are you excusing Stern call other Democrats evil? Who would join a political tent of people who think they’re evil? It’s almost the definition of dismissiveness. I argue that evil should be reserved for specific actions and only rarely for the very worst people. Otherwise it only serves to end conversations. No use discussing something with someone who is evil.
As for others, Madelyn Hardy warns “not to completely through AOC under the bus” because she’s stepped outside of progressive orthodoxy on how to speak about Gaza. Hardy is recognizing the danger of limiting the Left to the pure. After all, didn’t either DSA or Indivisible revoke AOC’s membership?
DSA did not revoke AOC's *membership* - as far as I know DSA has never revoked a membership simply for someone's beliefs. What they did is revoked an *endorsement* because DSA members voted to do so - DSA is hardly the only organization to have revoked an endorsement because their membership's opinion on a politician changes. This is a completely normal thing for any org to do.
I'm dismissing Evan's "evil" comment, because it is clearly a rhetorical tool meant to show that Evan *hears* the people around him that don't already agree with what he's about to say after that. Evan is a gifted persuasive writer, and these sort of statements are *essential* to persuading people who don't already agree with you. Supposedly, this is what you've been asking for! That single statement precludes a full-throated *defense* of AOC, and it's purpose is to *meet people where they are*. How are you missing that?
I'm not entertaining Madelyne Hardy, because Evan was *not* completely throwing AOC under the bus, he's supporting her. I'm not defending unnamed activists in the Chicago area or "comments on DailyKos", because I have no idea who they are, or what they've actually said. "Corporate shills" is a broad stroke! I am obviously against that, but again I don't know *who* said it, or in what context they did.
I’m not often in Left spaces online and only was frequently in person during one political campaign so if my limited experience has lead me to overestimate the demand for purity I retract my assertion.
Evil is not "corporate shill", and are you not aware that "evil" is a matter of degrees? Everything on earth is arguably "evil". My points stand.
Also, Evan's "Are they evil? Of course they are." is clearly a rhetorical tool meant to show that Evan *hears* the people around him that don't already agree with what he's about to say after that. Are you not aware that persuasive writing *requires* these sorts of statements?
I think it's too early to be talking about any candidates for a putative 2028 election. We need to make sure we still have elections and other institutions in 2025 and '26.
That said, I'd think a *particular* AOC fan would want to maximize her lifetime influence, which would mean a good run in the Senate first.
She is without a doubt the person I'd most like to see in charge of rebuilding everything that will need to be rebuilt. Because, if you think about it, when we're considering candidates for the next Democratic presidency, what we need to be considering is not just whether they are capable of rebuilding what the current regime is destroying or not, but whether they're ready, willing, and able to do so transformatively. I have slightly more faith in AOC's ability to reimagine the system than I do in Tim Walz's or pretty much any other Dem.
In a Cory Doctorow essay earlier this month (which I'll link to at the end of this comment), he quotes ("monster" and "crank") Milton Friedman as saying, "In times of crisis, ideas can move from the fringe to the center in an eyeblink. Our job is to keep good ideas lying around, in anticipation of that crisis." The work AOC did on the Green New Deal, even if not ultimately successful, is demonstrative of her ability in recognizing and advocating for some of those good ideas that we on the left have lying around.
I think the work she and Bernie are engaged in at the moment is more important than a run for president. In order to rebuild America for the working masses we need to start at the grass roots and begin reshaping the base of a party who has lost its way. If you want government for the people then it must be run by the people it represents. The wealthy have taken over the direction of the country because we let them. Bernie and AOC are going to the places that we lost to Trump in the last election and activating a frustrated mass of people to change the weight of the congress so we have some control over the laws and spending in our country. There is no better place for AOC to be but by Bernie's side, to stimulate the disenfranchised among us. Good on them. I support the work they are doing for our country. God bless democracy.
Democrat Women candidates are 0 for 2. First it was the white woman who lost. Then it was the black woman who lost. AOC would be the brown woman who lost. Now if we were to run a trans woman...we might get somewhere.
No. I have a fair degree of respect for her as a person and politician, but this would be completely foolish. Absolutely not.
The democrats cannot run another woman, a non white person or an old white person. I am not prejudice and I am a woman. It is obvious that the GOP is prejudice and anti-woman so for this reason a woman or a non white candidate for U.S. president is a loosing position. At least this next election for President needs to be a youngish, decent human being and a white male.
Respectfully, Judy... If we're going to be giving the GOP everything they want, what is the purpose of having an "opposition party", in the first place? Why even bother?
Beat the GOP over and over again until it collapses and a new republican party can be rebuild it! A woman can’t win in this climate. Neither can a person of colour. The country is going to want someone younger next time.
I think some of the biggest over performance was seen by female Senators, Governors and members of Congress. I think Trump has a unique charisma and ability to bring out a lot of disengaged voters it held back Hillary and Harris
AOC is awesome.
I’m not a leftist so I won’t feel bad if you dismiss my comment.
The Left will never ever win elections until it stops demanding purity and considering everyone else evil. Most of the Left voices I read or hear who rather stab a moderate Democrat in the back than take on a Republican. Most Left writers and activists would rather be righteous than produce results.
I like some of your solutions to problems and agree with some of your assessments of current economic and social systems.
Get off your high horse and convince people you are right by listening and discussing rather than accusing everyone of being disingenuous corporate shills.
There's an incredible irony in your comment... You're painting with broad strokes about "The Left", and accusing the people in this article of "accusing everyone of being disingenuous corporate shills" - which not a single one of them has done... And your prescription is: "Get off your high horse and convince people you are right by listening and discussing".
Do you not see that you are doing the exact thing you're accusing us of, yourself? In no way are you "getting off your high horse" or "listening" - you're making broad accusations and accusing a group of people of something they never did.
Stern writes above: “Are they evil? Of course they are.”
That’s just one example from post.
Anyway... I am a leftist, and believe it or not I loudly and frequently try to convince other leftists to genuinely do exactly as you prescribe - listen and discuss. I even wrote about it here: https://darkwoke.substack.com/p/the-rotten-no-good-delusions-of-homer
I would encourage you to be more specific with your feedback, abandon the "broad strokes" so you can have a more genuine and searching dialog. It would help everyone.
I appreciate your willingness to engage. I’m interested in reading your Substack.
I chose “corporate shill” because I’ve heard it spoken by activists in the Chicago area and I’ve read it in the posts and comments of DailyKos. Is that really not a commonly used phrase by left activists/writers to delegitimize the actions and opinions of moderate Democrats? If it isn’t common, I retract that example.
Why are you excusing Stern call other Democrats evil? Who would join a political tent of people who think they’re evil? It’s almost the definition of dismissiveness. I argue that evil should be reserved for specific actions and only rarely for the very worst people. Otherwise it only serves to end conversations. No use discussing something with someone who is evil.
As for others, Madelyn Hardy warns “not to completely through AOC under the bus” because she’s stepped outside of progressive orthodoxy on how to speak about Gaza. Hardy is recognizing the danger of limiting the Left to the pure. After all, didn’t either DSA or Indivisible revoke AOC’s membership?
DSA did not revoke AOC's *membership* - as far as I know DSA has never revoked a membership simply for someone's beliefs. What they did is revoked an *endorsement* because DSA members voted to do so - DSA is hardly the only organization to have revoked an endorsement because their membership's opinion on a politician changes. This is a completely normal thing for any org to do.
I'm dismissing Evan's "evil" comment, because it is clearly a rhetorical tool meant to show that Evan *hears* the people around him that don't already agree with what he's about to say after that. Evan is a gifted persuasive writer, and these sort of statements are *essential* to persuading people who don't already agree with you. Supposedly, this is what you've been asking for! That single statement precludes a full-throated *defense* of AOC, and it's purpose is to *meet people where they are*. How are you missing that?
I'm not entertaining Madelyne Hardy, because Evan was *not* completely throwing AOC under the bus, he's supporting her. I'm not defending unnamed activists in the Chicago area or "comments on DailyKos", because I have no idea who they are, or what they've actually said. "Corporate shills" is a broad stroke! I am obviously against that, but again I don't know *who* said it, or in what context they did.
I’m not often in Left spaces online and only was frequently in person during one political campaign so if my limited experience has lead me to overestimate the demand for purity I retract my assertion.
Evil is not "corporate shill", and are you not aware that "evil" is a matter of degrees? Everything on earth is arguably "evil". My points stand.
Also, Evan's "Are they evil? Of course they are." is clearly a rhetorical tool meant to show that Evan *hears* the people around him that don't already agree with what he's about to say after that. Are you not aware that persuasive writing *requires* these sorts of statements?
I think it's too early to be talking about any candidates for a putative 2028 election. We need to make sure we still have elections and other institutions in 2025 and '26.
That said, I'd think a *particular* AOC fan would want to maximize her lifetime influence, which would mean a good run in the Senate first.
Yassssssd
She is without a doubt the person I'd most like to see in charge of rebuilding everything that will need to be rebuilt. Because, if you think about it, when we're considering candidates for the next Democratic presidency, what we need to be considering is not just whether they are capable of rebuilding what the current regime is destroying or not, but whether they're ready, willing, and able to do so transformatively. I have slightly more faith in AOC's ability to reimagine the system than I do in Tim Walz's or pretty much any other Dem.
In a Cory Doctorow essay earlier this month (which I'll link to at the end of this comment), he quotes ("monster" and "crank") Milton Friedman as saying, "In times of crisis, ideas can move from the fringe to the center in an eyeblink. Our job is to keep good ideas lying around, in anticipation of that crisis." The work AOC did on the Green New Deal, even if not ultimately successful, is demonstrative of her ability in recognizing and advocating for some of those good ideas that we on the left have lying around.
https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/03/friedmanite/#oil-crisis-two-point-oh
Bernie Sanders
She certainly is qualified and stepping up for democracy. I bet she’s dealing with “now”. But I’m willing to support her.
Absolutely Patricia! Thanks for weighing in 🙏