I keep asking why you brought up the Senate at all...if it was genuine curiosity, that's fine...It looked like a gotcha because I assumed you'd follow the legislation a bit more closely before bringing it up as an example of AOC not doing enough...also I'd characterize your implication that the Squad doesn't show effort on these causes as an attack but it's semantics.
Why ask that? It's not a complex question.
No one cares whether she's criticized or not. You demanded effort toward student loan debt, M4A, and the minimum wage; but it's hard to tell how aware you are of the actual efforts going toward the causes you care about.
- Medicare expansion via reducing the qualifying age and adding vision and dental is getting a push alongside the Infrastructure/Reconciliation fight.
- The 15 dollar minimum wage literally passed through the House where the Squad is situated,
- Student Loan Forgiveness being tax free is a step in the right direction of canceling student loan debt. Not enough? Maybe. But it's a sign of effort at the very least.
The Squad failing at performative measures is fair. I'd levy harsher critiques on AOC for her foreign policy postures than anything you've mentioned in terms of being performative. From a pragmatic point of view, and being realistic about what can and cannot be attained as a relatively small bloc of progressives in the confines of a big tent party...I think those steps all point toward actual effort.
I'd also add, that a chunk of the critiques lobbed at the Squad from the MPP and FTV crew seem specifically targeted at reducing support for the Democratic party (the goal not being to help Republicans, but rather to pull voters away from the Dems and toward a third party option that challenges the two).
AOC can handle being criticized by YouTubers. But my, and I'd argue many others', issue with the tact of targeting the Squad instead of actual no-votes is that I believe it undermines progress toward our shared goals. I don't buy the third party thing because there is no third party with significant influence to challenge these two parties and the system is built to keep the two parties in place. I think Influencers should be aiming to do:
a) target and pressure Dems that are impeding the progress toward our goals directly (ie: the people protesting outside of Sinema's office >>> the ones outside of AOC's imo)
b) amplify the bills that do pass the House in efforts to draw more attention to the policies we support and hopefully pressure those direct impediments aka no-votes from within the party
c) start to pick out districts with centrist Dems where we can put up challengers (regardless of party affiliation but I'd strategize via Democratic ticket) that openly acknowledge support for M4A, debt cancellation, etc.
So "aoc can take it" does nothing for me or anyone else. We're talking about getting this stuff passed and the nihilism that is pushed by treating the Squad like sellouts seems like a step backwards to me...though it is profitable for certain YouTubers who I'm not even sure actually care about these issues beyond how many clicks they generate.
I named 3 things and didn't have it right on 1. And once informed I gave kudos Not good enough?
