[1]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress[2]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress

I have a theory of power that is about outside-inside
power.

Which means constantly building power and modes of accountability inside
government, and in the streets organizing the masses outside government —
in everyday, real life.

Right now, the inside power, Democrats are in the minority.

People don't understand that when we talk about midterm elections — who
controls the House and who controls the Senate — it doesn't just mean that
there are more Republicans than Democrats.

It also means that Republicans control every committee.
They control everything that comes to the floor.
They control what legislation gets voted on or doesn't get voted on.
They control whether investigations happen or not.

Right now, Republicans are in control of the House, the Senate, and the
White House, which means that Democrats do not have control of committees,
investigations, or ability to conduct oversight in the congressional
sense.

Now, where I have a departure with some others is that I'm a big believer
in building outside power, outside organizing, etc.

And to me, that means getting creative as a party.

For example, we don't need Republicans to do hearings — Democrats can call
shadow hearings where all Democrats invite a witness, talk about this,
etc.

I did this last year with Jamie Raskin on the Oversight Committee. We
conducted a shadow hearing around the corruption in the Supreme Court,
which led to my filing articles of impeachment on Justice Alito.

Engaging in that kind of activity is important, and continuing to build
mass movements.

These rallies that Bernie and I have been doing have been enormously
powerful, not just from, “Let’s all get together and deliver a speech.”
There is a lot of organizing infrastructure down ballot, and in community
organizing non-electorally, that gets built when we select a location
strategically for 20,000-30,000 people.

So it involves a lot of different pieces, building power, building
accountability — and also building pressure inside Congress, including
inside the Democratic Party.

One thing that I do think our party needs is a vision that's not just
anti-Trump.

This is a position I've long held: We actually need a positive,
affirmative vision for this country, and be willing to take risks, and
vote on real things, and actually tell people what we're fighting for.

A lot of people don't know what an average Democrat fights for, because we
need to build that consensus. But I don't think that we're starting with
nothing.

This is where we have an opportunity to fight for minimum wage increases,
to fight for guaranteed health care, to fight for something that's
actually worthwhile.

Like in New York City: in a near historic heat wave, people stood in line
in the hot sun, no air conditioning to vote for Zohran.

You need to have a vision that's worth standing in the hot sun for hours
to vote for. People are not going to do that with only ‘being upset.’

It's important for us to hold the corruption of this administration
accountable, but we also have to have an alternative vision.

And it can't just be, “Not that.” If it's not that, then what is it?

For me, my “what” is raising the federal minimum wage to a living wage.
My “what” is guaranteed healthcare for every American and catching up with
the rest of the modern world.
My “what” is making public colleges and universities tuition free.
My “what” is actually having a real path to citizenship in the United
States.

That’s why this movement is so important: we’re fighting for each and
every one of these issues, from universal healthcare to getting money out
of our politics.

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In solidarity,

Alexandria


 


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