In recent years the Progressive Caucus on Capitol Hill has introduced legislation to abolish ICE, called for free college, and backed a single-payer system that would socialize American healthcare. But they’re still not radical enough for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
She shocked the establishment with her win over incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, and now, the Democratic nominee wants to reorganize Congress. With its 78 House members, she suggested that the Progressive Caucus was too unwieldly to create real change. Instead, Ocasio-Cortez is calling for a more nimble, more radical “sub-caucus,” something akin to a liberal version of the House Freedom Caucus.
“If you can even carve out a caucus of 10, 30 people, it does not take a lot, if you operate as a bloc vote, to really make strong demands on things,” Ocasio-Cortez said during a podcast with Jacobin Magazine — an avowed anti-capitalist, socialist publication.
“The thing that gives the caucus power is that you can operate as a bloc vote in order to get things done,” Ocasio-Cortez explained. “Even if you can carve out a sub-portion, a sub-caucus of the progressive caucus, even if you could carve out that, even a smaller bloc, but one that operates as a bloc, then you can generate real power.”
While legislative sabotage can be a winning strategy, the question is whether Ocasio-Cortez can follow anyone to lead. She is making plenty of enemies before actually getting elected.
After stunning the party by upsetting incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary, Ocasio-Cortez has gotten busy starting a second revolution. She has backed other insurgent candidates and badmouthed established Democrats to the ire of the old guard. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., summed up the gripes telling The Hill that “she ain’t going to make friends that way.” But Ocasio-Cortez could recruit partisans that way.
The intransigent conservative Freedom Caucus has recruited just enough partisans to block legislation and scalp a speaker. They blew up the first Obamacare repeal bill of the Trump presidency, then negotiated a better one that eventually made it to the Senate. Similarly-minded progressives could do the same.
But any progressive troop would be doomed with Ocasio-Cortez in a leadership position. Knocking off a member of party brass in a sneak campaign is one thing. Outfoxing that leadership with parliamentary procedure and smart policy debates is another. So far, it seems like Ocasio-Cortez has the passion but lacks the skills to actually get a progressive caucus off the ground.
At this point, the fate of Ocasio-Cortez is anyone’s guess. Regardless, both parties disregard her at their own peril.
This story has been updated with additional context.
