I realize I may get some flack for this, but here goes. [View all]

Last edited Wed Jan 29, 2025, 09:44 PM - Edit history (1)

Apparently on an interview with Jon Stewart, AOC said: "We need to become BRAWLERS for the working class” **
This is how she sees that "democrats could win back messaging and make real progress for real people".

I have a problem with those trying to turn the Democratic party into a specific category or a monolith, in any way. Isn't the whole point of the Democratic Party is that is a "big tent" party.

There has been a lot of talk since the election about how the Dems need to learn to speak to "regular folks". This strategy is sometimes portrayed (from my perspective) as the Dems apologizing for the elites and academics. I have seen some playbooks that sound like they are encouraging the "dumbing down" of the Democratic Party.

I do not agree that the result of the last election can be blamed on the Democrats having the "wrong message", or directing their message to the wrong people.

So is AOC advocating for focusing on a certain population, that does not include some of us?

Are academics and intellectual elites excluded from that working class?

Are aging hippies comfortably (financially and otherwise) living out their years in a cabin in Vermont, excluded from the Democratic base?

Is anyone who happens to be financially secure and no longer working excluded as a priority for the Democratic Party.

Is anyone who happens to be financially secure, period, not in need of the policies of the Democratic Party?

There are those who are limited by their disabilities and unable to work. They are clearly not the "working class".

Are all of us on this forum the working class? Shouldn't the Democratic Party be representing and protecting and defending and "fighting" for all of us?

And I have a question about the word "brawler"?

Is that not a word that reflects a tough attitude of the Bronx?

I don't know that speaking like a tough person from the Bronx has an overall appeal to the American citizenry. There are a lot of people in need of the help of the Democratic Party right now. Some of those people don't respond to the tough brawler persona.

I find a lot of incredibly smart people on this forum. A lot of us would describe ourselves as part of the "resistance". I would say we represent the "opposition". I see much discussion that is geared toward saving our democracy and the future of this country. Do all of us see the brawler stance as the future approach for the Democratic Party?

Don't get me wrong. I think AOC is smart and effective. Right now the Democratic Party can use her energy in the House, and I think she does a great job in Committee.

** I had to make an edit and correct the word "middle class". It was supposed to read "working class". I copied and pasted it from somewhere and didn't realize they had changed the quote. BIG MEA CULPA!
For clarification, my criticism was of the phrase "working class" and its limited meaning. That was indeed the phrase she used. I just found the article in which the phrase was used. Here it is. https://www.commondreams.org/news/aoc-democrat