Politics: the predictable rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

By Gonzalo López Martí  – Creative director / LMMiami.com

“Every country has the government it deserves.”

Joseph de Maistre

• Most Latinos like yours truly came to this country to put in our rearview mirrors assorted forms of political and economic folly, oppressive revolutions, deranged populism, rampant kleptocracy, obtuse socialism, alarming ineptitude, magical thinking, cringe-inducing cult of personality, style without substance and farándula governments.
• We moved to ‘Murica precisely because it seemed to be run by boring, middle of the road bean counters with monotone speech patterns, old fashioned off-the-rack attire and receding hairlines whose idea of sound policy is to keep the trains running on time and the vending machines stocked up.
• Next thing you know, we are forced to witness a loud, clueless, horny, insecure, unhinged, racist gaudy faux-billionaire in the White House.
• And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a self-described Socialist, as the rising star of the opposition party.
• We had a taste with good ol’ Bernie Sanders.
• Now this.
• Polarization.
• We had it coming.
• Mind you, I love what Ms. Ocasio-Cortez represents: commitment, optimism, youth, confidence, self-esteem.
• The opposite of cynicism.
• In the age of Kardashianism, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a beacon of hope for our kids.
• Unfortunately, she is all of 28 years of age.
• You are reading a dude who believes nobody under 30 should be given a driver’s license.
• Let alone a seat in congress.
• Don’t get me wrong: her rising visibility in the Democratic Party is a much-needed wake up call.
• She obviously is a talented, hard-working, charismatic and risk-taking individual.
• She is a great example, a great role model.
• If only she weren’t a card-carrying, finger-wagging, nanny-state loving, left wing fringe element.
• See: she holds degrees in Economics and International Relations.
• Why didn’t she try her hand in Silicon Valley or Wall Street, where Latinos are grossly underrepresented?
• Why go into politics at such an early age?
• What makes her think that she can effect change in the soul-crushing meat grinder of politics?
• There used to be a tradition of sorts in this country: first you serve in the military &/or make it in the private sector as a businessperson, professional or some such and only then you sign on the dotted line of the Faustian bargain of politics.
• By the way, I love her hipster campaign logo.
• Everything about her campaign is cool and edgy yet down to earth and warm.
• Her rise to prominence is indeed a case study in how to handle a political race in 2018.
• But wait, she only won the primary in her district so far.
• Yes, she did away with a perennial shoo-in.
• Nevertheless, she still has to win her actual seat in Congress against a GOP rival.
• My humble suggestion: she might want to shift her stance on various issues a few notches toward the center.
• Hopefully, she and her constituents will realize that socialism is at best a surreal collectivist fairy tale and, more often than not, a dangerous slippery slope to tyranny.
• Someone please remind her that “If you are not a liberal in your 20s you have no heart, if you are not a conservative in your 40s you have no brain”.
• Or something like it.
• You might ask yourself why the title of this column deems Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s rise as “predictable”.
• The answer is simple: the political landscape usually functions as a pendulum.
• From hackneyed right wingers to leftist ne’er do wells.
• Problem arises when we push the pendulum too far to one side.
• Sooner or later, Newton’s Third Law of Motion comes into play: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
• A principle of physics that tends to apply to everything in life.