With Ocasio-Cortez, Dems Consider Bernie Sanders Too Conservative

The victory of a 28-year-old avowed socialist over a long-time Democratic congressman in a New York primary has invigorated the progressive base. To the point of repudiating the former progressive hero, the 76-year-old avowed socialist Bernie Sanders, who is being called too conservative.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated Rep. Joe Crowley, who was no less than the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. Her election to the strongly-Democratic district in New York City is all but assured. She is now endorsing other radical candidates and is the new superstar of the left.

Now the left has a socialist candidate who is young, attractive, Hispanic, female, and inspiring. As opposed to Sanders, who is just inspiring. Also, she is much farther to the left than he is.

One of the issues she ran on is the complete elimination of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the law-enforcement agency in charge of immigration violations. She advocates completely open borders, with no restrictions or limitations on immigration. So eliminating ICE has become the cause du jour of other progressives.

Sanders was asked on a TV show if he too supported the elimination of ICE, and he said he did not. He called instead for a “rational” immigration policy, which, presumably, would be liberal without doing away with all border controls whatsoever.

For this, Sanders was savaged on social media and in left-wing forums. One journalist called him “on the wrong side of history,” reflecting the left’s conviction that their triumph is inevitable. “Sanders’ aversion to abolishing ICE triggered similar rebuke from other journalists and outlets on the left,” reported Haris Alic, “with some even denouncing the self-described Democratic socialist as a ‘neoliberal,’ a term generally reserved for those who favor free-market capitalism above all else, and as a ‘moderate.'”

Others are working to purge Sanders from the movement. Sarah Jones, in the New Republic, has written an article entitled Bernie Sanders Is Not the Left. He is no true socialist, she writes, because he does not want to nationalize the means of production. “It’s one thing to call for breaking up the big banks,” she writes, “and quite another to call for the nationalization of private industries.” She also accuses him of being silent about the international dimension of socialism, of getting the workers of the world to unite.

Kit Daniels summarizes the new attitude: “Sanders, it seems, was used as a transition to get left-leaning Americans to embrace socialism, and now his usefulness is declining among the far-left.”

Revolutionaries are not known for their gratitude. Just ask Robespierre and Trotsky.

PREDICTION: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will run for president and will win the Democratic nomination. Look at how well Sanders did. She would also get the Hillary voters. Do you think she could defeat Donald Trump?

UPDATE TO PREDICTION: Thanks for the reminders that, according to the Constitution, presidents have to be at least 35 years old.

Photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by Jesse Korman, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70354087