I am responding to Blair Bess’s syndicated column (When liberals aren’t liberal enough, Jan. 4). Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is exactly what Congress needs and what America needs. Ocasio-Cortez is the 28-year old Democratic Socialist from Brooklyn, New York, elected to the House of Representatives in November. Bess thinks that Ocasio-Cortez will be a short-lived member of the House of Representatives, because she is shaping her own brand of politics on Capitol Hill and not representing her constituents. I believe that her constituents in Brooklyn knew very well that she is a spit-fire on health care, climate change, and many social issues. That is exactly why they elected her. They knew that she would rock the political establishment on Capitol Hill including Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s and the rest of the Democratic Party establishment.
I don’t know anything about Bess, but he is now joining the corporate media along with Anderson Cooper trying to squash Ocasio-Cortez’s enthusiasm. The corporate media is now labeling her as a radical. There is nothing radical about a 70-percent tax on the very wealthy for the New Green Deal. There is nothing radical about ending fossil fuel consumption in 12 years. There is nothing radical pushing for a clean environment for future generations. After all, it is the political establishment in Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, that has perpetuated the fossil fuel industry with subsidies that allowed them to poison our air and water for decades. Millennials will not condone fossil fuels in their future. This is going to be the new future of America. The payoffs in a fossil fuel-free economy will be huge. Who doesn’t want better jobs and better health?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the first of a new generation of politicians occupying the U. S. Congress that will not be silenced by the Congressional establishment. She is part of a new revolution that could give America Medicare-for-All, clean air, healthy foods, election reform and much more. Ocasio-Cortez is the rocker and shocker that is so desperately needed in the corporate-owned Congress. To all corporate media, get off her back. Ocasio-Cortez is good for Congress and good for America.
Randy Fricke
New Castle