Tag Archives: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Moving Left While The Voters Move Toward The Center

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There is a political divide in America. There is also a political divide in the Democrat party. There are some Democrats who quietly support ending government waste and ending open borders, and there are some Democrats that want to continue to failed policies of President Biden and President Obama. Unfortunately, the party seems to have chosen to move further left, away from its base, rather than moving toward the center. The Democrats are no longer the party of the working man. They are the party of people traveling in private jets railing at the oligarchy and wanting to ‘tax the rich.’

On Wednesday, PJ Media reported:

…There’s been a slow-moving coup… but nobody’s noticed!

It’s tied to the larger political realignment nationally: Under the MAGA banner, the GOP has evolved into the party of the working man. The Bush-era days of country club conservatives has come and gone (assuming the club isn’t Mar-a-Lago, of course). We’ve gone from Wall Street to Main Street.

But the Democratic Party is realigning, too.

Liberals are frothing in furious rage — and not only at Republicans. A record number have lost faith in the Democratic Party. Its favorability has never been this dismal. Liberals are begging — pleading — for new leaders and a new direction. Even in New York, 53% of Democrats want to fire the Democrats’ Senate leader… who is FROM New York. (Sorry, Chuck Schumer.) This isn’t normal behavior.

There’s never been a better time for an outsider to seize control.

Our first big story is the Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) whistlestop tour with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). (In honor of Bernie Sanders, I hereby dub it the B.S. tour.) Although they’ve been generating headlines for the size of their enormous crowds — even in ruby-red districts — that’s not the most meaningful part.

There’s a consensus forming amongst their supporters: They want to go to war.

Liberals are demanding to be represented by a fighter. Among Democratic voters, an overwhelming majority — 72% — want someone “more aggressive” to battle Trump. Less than a third (28%) sought a “moderate” approach.

The liberal base will choose the most aggressive, fiery liberal candidate. Moderates need not apply.

The article notes that David Hogg, the current Vice-Chairman of the Democrat party, is planning to primary any moderate Democrat currently in office. The goal is a radical Democrat party with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as its leader. It will be interesting to see how the voters react to this.

An Odd Couple Introduces Common Sense

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On Tuesday, Just the News reported that Florida Republican Representative Matt Gaetz and New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have introduced a bill banning lawmakers, their spouses, or dependents from trading stocks. If that bill is ever passed, it will seriously diminish the incomes of the people who serve in Congress.

The article reports:

House Problem Solvers Caucus co-chair Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., and Democratic Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi joined the pair in introducing the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act on Tuesday.

The bill further grants lawmakers a 90-day window during which they must divest themselves of their existing stocks. Moreover, should the spouse of a lawmaker receive “any financial instrument” as compensation for their main employment, they will have 90 days to sell it from the date they are contractually permitted to do so.

Covered individuals may still invest in “widely held investment funds” or government bonds.

The article concludes:

“As long as concerns about insider trading hang over the legislative process, Congress will never regain the trust of the American people. Our responsibility in Congress is to serve the people, not hedge bets on the stock market,” Gaetz warned.

AOC, meanwhile, echoed his remarks, saying “[t]he ability to individually trade stock erodes the public’s trust in government.”

“Members of Congress must be focused on their constituents, not their stock portfolios,” Krishnamoorthi added.

That is bipartisan legislation that most Americans can support. Unfortunately, I rather doubt it will become law.

The Charges Against Justice Clarence Thomas

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Justice Thomas has been a problem for the political left since he was nominated. The trumped-up charges against him did not work, and the Democrats were not able to deny him a seat on the Supreme Court as they had done to Robert Bork in 1987. Now, the Democrats want him investigated for vacationing with a friend and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants him impeached. So what exactly is going on?

On Friday, The Epoch Times reported:

After a news report highlighted luxurious vacations Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas allegedly accepted from a wealthy friend, Thomas said he was advised he didn’t have to report the trips. In a new statement, Thomas denied any wrongdoing and vowed to follow new reporting requirements imposed on the federal judiciary.

Thomas’s critics in Congress promptly seized on the report last week of the vacations, suggesting it raised the appearance of impropriety.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) demanded that the justice be impeached, saying his actions evidenced an “almost cartoonish” level of corruption. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee’s panel on federal courts, called for an independent investigation of the justice, who has long been a target of the left.

Whitehouse and other critics also say that justices whose spouses are involved in political activism, like Thomas, whose wife, Ginni Thomas, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, is active in conservative politics, should have to recuse themselves from involvement in cases related to that activism. Despite pressure, the justice declined to recuse himself from the various challenges to the disputed 2020 presidential election that made it to the Supreme Court.

Billionaire businessman and Republican Party donor Harlan Crow, who made the gifts to Thomas, has reportedly not had any business before the Supreme Court, so any allegation of a conflict of interest rests on weak grounds.

Nor is it clear if Thomas violated the judicial ethics code by not declaring the vacations. Legal experts say the code does not apply to the Supreme Court. The court has said in the past that the justices voluntarily adhere to the ethics guidelines.

Crow reportedly said the trips with Thomas and his wife were “no different from the hospitality that we have extended to many other dear friends.”

The article notes that he probably was not required to report the vacations:

“As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them,” the justice said.

“Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable.

“I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines. These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary just this past month announced new guidance.

“And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future,” Thomas said.

Just another Democrat witch-hunt.

When The Facts Are Not On Your Side, Paint Your Dress

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The pictures of the dress that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wore to the Met Gala went viral. In case you haven’t seen it, the white dress had “tax the rich” written in big red letters on the back. I guess Representative Ocasio-Cortez is not aware that we are already doing that.

The following chart is from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation:

An article posted at Townhall today reports:

Despite perceptions, the highest-income strata of taxpayers are the only ones who pay a larger share of taxes than their share of income. In 2018, the top 1% of income earners made nearly 21% of all income but paid 40% of all federal income taxes. The top 10% earned 48% of the income and paid 71% of all federal income taxes.

On the other hand, in 2021, Americans making less than $75,000 are projected to have, on average, no tax liability after deductions and credits. The average income-tax rate for those making between $75,000 and $100,000 is expected to be 1.8%. More than 61% of Americans — around 107 million households — owed zero federal income taxes for the year 2020.

You don’t have to agree with me that (over)taxing the wealthy undermines job creation and growth, or that a tax system that relies so heavily on the fortunes of the few creates more cronyism in Washington and more volatility everywhere else. But the idea that the rich don’t pay their “fair share” is absurd.

The article at Townhall concludes:

No, progressive taxation isn’t socialism. But the policy justifications made for tax hikes these days certainly are. Ocasio-Cortez is a fraud, of course, but it’s her retrograde economic theorizing that’s the real problem. And in this age of populism, increasing numbers of Americans are accepting Marxist conceptions of American life, in which the successful are parasites and everyone else is a victim of their greed.

The reality is that no politician is going to advocate raising middle-class income taxes, despite the ever-increasing cost of government. There is only the rich to tax. Consequently, it’s become easier to pass massive expansions of the state. Everyone expects someone else to foot the bill — either future generations or their wealthier neighbors. Meanwhile, taxation has gone from being a means of funding communal needs and projects to a means of technocratic wealth reallocation. This is no way to run a country.

We need to do a better job of teaching economics in our schools.