(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Democrats are incapable of change. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-12-24 The evolution of AOC They may have lost the presidency, the House, and the Senate, but when it comes to avoiding introspection, the Democrats are completely undefeated. You’d have thought that after the disastrous presidential election, the Democrats might have taken some time to figure out what went wrong. You’d have thought they might have decided to try and refresh the party – make it more relevant to disenchanted voters. You’d have thought they might have realized that they needed to shake things up. Why change something they have been doing for decades? Well, you’d have thought wrong. As the recent drama with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shows, it’s business as usual with the Democratic establishment. Instead of trying to present a fresh new face to the world, they’re continuing to be a party of geriatric multimillionaires who are more concerned about pomp and procedure than actually winning elections. The US is not alone in this; see this article by Thomas Piketty Thomas Piketty: 'The idea that the country should be governed by bringing together all the so-called reasonable parties is a dangerous illusion' -Le Monde in English Let's face it: France will not emerge from its current political crisis by inventing a new central coalition. The idea that the country should be governed by bringing together all the so-called "reasonable" parties, from the center-left to the center-right, from the Parti Socialiste (PS) to Les Républicains (LR), excluding the "extremes" – La France Insoumise (LFI) on the left and the Rassemblement National (RN) on the right – is a dangerous illusion, which will only lead to further disappointment and strengthen the extremes in question. Firstly, because this coalition of the reasonable looks very much like a coalition of the better-off. Excluding the working class from government is certainly not the way out of the democratic crisis. Secondly, electoral democracy needs clear and accepted alternations to function properly Returning to the Guardian That isn’t true of AOC, by the way. The representative has changed remarkably during her time in power. She started in office in 2019 as a progressive firebrand but drifted increasingly to the center in a seeming attempt to appease the party leaders and advance her career. “AOC Is Just a Regular Old Democrat Now,” New York Magazine proclaimed last year after she endorsed Joe Biden for a second term. Gradually, she seems to have abandoned everything she once stood for. In an attempt to secure her leadership bid, Axios reported, she’d even promised to end her support for primary challengers to fellow House Democrats. AOC should read the notes on Bernie Sanders' campaign for the presidency. The left scares them rigid. It is the same here in France, but more left.. You must not rock the boat. I liked AOC more when she stated what she believed in, and we contributed without being asked. [See Hunters Diary] While AOC may not be the progressive force she once was, having her as the lead Democrat on the House oversight committee would still have represented a shift for the Democratic party. Elevating her into a leadership position would have signaled a new start. Instead, it looks like the Democrats are committed to repeating the same old strategies, with the same ageing politicians, in the hope that, this time, they might work. There, in a nutshell, is the problem. A morning muse ~A [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/12/24/2293528/-The-Democrats-are-incapable-of-change?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/