The Democratic National Convention Speaker List Is a Look at the Party's Identity Crisis

[Withywindle]

49. Is that really true though?

As I see it, AOC's platform is really based on economic justice. She was a bartender - which is already elite among service jobs. She appeals to the younger generation, which is COMPLETELY economically screwed even if they originally came from the middle class.

People in their 20s and 30s now are economically crippled by at least three factors: 1) if they went to college, student debt on a level unprecedented in the past. I'm Gen X, in my early 50s, and I had student debt that took me about a decade to pay off - and it is SO MUCH WORSE for younger people. I have friends in their 30s who have good jobs (or at least did before the virus) but will never pay that debt off until they're accumulating more debt for nursing home care. 2) Whether they went to college or not, wage stagnation to absolutely shameful levels. If minimum wage had kept pace with earning power on the level it was in the 70s, it would be $22.50 an hour AT LEAST. That would raise up all levels, if $22.50 was the baseline, as it should be. 3) Healthcare being completely inaccessible to anyone in the working class. (And remember, TODAY'S working class isn't white guys in factories with union jobs, it's retail and low-paid health care workers, who are generally young and likely to be women and people of color.)

These are the people AOC speaks to. They're in every single state. If we can get all these people out to vote - and make sure their vote is counted, that's the hard part - we'll never lose again.

But we do need to make sure they get something in exchange for their vote. Obama delivered - I have health insurance now, I wouldn't if not for him. It's not great coverage but it's better than nothing.

People in purple states are stressed out by fear of poverty - which is a completely rational fear. I think progressives like AOC are the future of the party, because their ideas will actually help.