[Peace-discuss] Politican's talk vs. votes -- what's more important?

[Brussel, Morton K]

Thanks for your comments, making me aware of what I didn’t know.
A good review with important compelling links to the AOC - Pelosi controversy, related to Medicare for all, is at
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/12/16/the-revolutionary-struggle-is-a-fight-between-movement-and-inertia/
by Caitlin Johnstone.

Is AOC is an progressive asset in Congress? Is she being corrupted by her position there? Possibly. Has she voted for the military budget, ≈740B$ ? For me a crucial test. Does she take positions on foreign policy, esp. with now regard to China and Russia and Iran? Other crucial tests: The NDAA? Israel? Sanctions? Whistle blowers? NATO? Climate change? Education? Surveillance? Socialism??, ….

I suppose I should do some homework here.

—mkb



On Dec 17, 2020, at 6:26 PM, J.B. Nicholson via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net<mailto:peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:

Brussel, Morton K wrote:
AOC says things as a congressional representative that no, or few, others do.  So
I find the criticisms here self defeating, not to say annoying. Yes, she’s not
ideal, but who is stepping forward in Congress more than her?

Generally, a politician's talk doesn't interest me much because votes on policy are what affects people's lives. AOC spoke against the CARES Act, for example, in another arm-waving speech on the floor of the House which was sharply critical of the CARES Act. In that speech she pointed out how the general American public would get "crumbs" and she was right in that assessment. But AOC did not challenge Pelosi to get a roll-call vote for the CARES Act which would help us more clearly identify who was on our side in our collective time of need. There appears to have been no real negotiations on terms for paying the general public more money over a longer period (such as a UBI) to help us avoid insolvency during a pandemic. There was no apparent talk to a senator to convince them to use their power to put a hold on the bill while they drummed up public support for better terms. After listening to the audio of that vote it's clear that only a couple of men voted against it (as Jimmy Dore rightly pointed out at the time, saying something like "unless AOC suddenly sounds like Lou Rawls when she says 'no', she voted for that bill"). Fellow 'squad' member Rep. Ilhan Omar also rightly spoke against the CARES Act and wrongly voted for the CARES Act; Rep. Omar was slightly more honest than AOC about it admitting her vote.

Even Pelosi knows that talk against something Pelosi wants to happen is far less important than voting against something Pelosi wants to happen. So Democrats go on and on about how we all deserve health care as a right and they'll cosponsor Medicare for All bills pretty widely. But as we've seen with HR676 (when the Democrats had a majority in both houses of Congress) and as we're seeing now, bringing Medicare for All bills to the floor for a vote is a no-go. This is also the case in California, 5th largest economy in the world, which is run by Democrats. And on the CARES Act and on voting for Pelosi as speaker (which AOC initially said she wouldn't do but then did), AOC provides no challenge to party power on these important issues. This disincentivizes me to want AOC in Congress as I prefer someone who fights for our interests. AOC's words about "bringing the ruckus" turn out to be nothing but talk.

Arguments against perfection ("she's not ideal") are a false dichotomy and unconvincing. As to who is better than her strikes me as a distraction because AOC has power now so her votes matter. When the rhetoric that got her into office is so diametrically opposed to where she's going now, it's right and proper to quote that and see if she's living up to her own values on the important issues of the day (which certainly includes Medicare for All).

Claiming that such criticism is "self-defeating" is nonsense; the only thing that's self-defeating is not to try. And that's true on both AOC's end and ours as Americans who want Medicare for All. There's no good reason for AOC not to challenge Pelosi on Medicare for All in precisely the way that AOC is being told to do -- no vote for Pelosi without bringing Rep. Jayapal's Medicare for All bill to the floor for a vote. We are right and proper to demand things of our elected officials.

Even if Medicare for All doesn't pass into law, AOC has a chance to be seen fighting for what we want in a substantive way. If she puts in that effort, that won't be forgotten and we can all tell her district to re-elect her because she has walked the walk. But if she caves into power-pleasing we can cite that too and push for replacing her with someone who will work for our interests. We stand to lose nothing by getting elected representatives to do their job in carrying out what we want and need.

Jimmy Dore makes excellent points in https://youtube.com/watch?v=jbZFO-pmJMo and I explicitly include the yelling and swearing in that assessment. If one can't get excited over helping the American public face a lethal pandemic and a depression with a practical and widely-supported program that also saves us money (Medicare for All), one simply isn't paying attention. Tone policing and bogus arguments are no match.
_______________________________________________
Peace-discuss mailing list
Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net<mailto:Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20201218/266c1e55/attachment.htm>