Anastasia Ocasio-Cortez

[_EAllusion]

One of my pet issues is increasing compensation and building a nice, liveable campus for people in Congress and their staff in order to cut down on the venal motives for Congressional actions and reduce how much outsourcing of writing legislation to industry lobbyists happens. Cheaping out on paying legislators and their staff is the most penny-foolish thing we do in government. I think it is one of the major sources of dysfunction in government. I think this is a back burner issue for a lot of people, but it's in my top priorities along with big deal things like voter rights, global warming, ending the drug war, civil rights, etc.

Cortez is making this a pet issue and has taken the very rare step of actually paying her staffers a decent wage, so that off sets a lot of nonsense for me. If she wants to use her media platform for that, great.

[_EAllusion]

One of the things that drives me nuts is the reason we cheap out on paying the heads of government is because of a naïve belief that this stops people from being in it for the money rather than patriotism and it prevents extravagant spending. To the latter, it's a tiny drop in the bucket and people literally can't put into context where the dollars in our spending are actually going. To the former, it creates Congresspeople who chase money outside of their core job, first for political donors for campaigns, then for cushy jobs once they are out of office. And because Congresspeople can't pay staff enough to have good in-house policy shops, think tanks and industry lobbyists end up writing legislation to their narrow interests.

[_Brackite]

The more I learn about Anastasia Ocasio-Cortez and her views, the more favorably I am impressed by her, and the more unfavorably impressed I am by those who attempt to smear, denigrate and belittle her. We need more people like her in government, and fewer like Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and others, both Republican and Democrat (yes, some Democrats are also guilty) who cater mostly, if not exclusively, to the wealthy and most avaricious. And we need zero people in government like Donald J. Trump (except to serve as a nearly worst case example of what to avoid)!

I don't really agree that we need more people like Ocasio-Cortez in government. I believe that she is a bit too far left. I believe that we need more people like Sinema in Congress. She is a moderate Democrat who is pretty very bipartisan. I recently voted for her for US Senate, and I am very glad that she is going to be a US Senator next month.

[_subgenius]

Using terms that most decent people have to google, and then regret doing so, is just one of the many reasons the comparison about your posting content is so accurate.

coming from a guy who started it off with sleighing down a doo-doo mountain with mouth open, your claim of "decency" is duly noted as laughable.

[_subgenius]

One of the things that drives me nuts is the reason we cheap out on paying the heads of government is because of a naïve belief that this stops people from being in it for the money rather than patriotism and it prevents extravagant spending. To the latter, it's a tiny drop in the bucket and people literally can't put into context where the dollars in our spending are actually going. To the former, it creates Congresspeople who chase money outside of their core job, first for political donors for campaigns, then for cushy jobs once they are out of office. And because Congresspeople can't pay staff enough to have good in-house policy shops, think tanks and industry lobbyists end up writing legislation to their narrow interests.

are you suggesting that our founding fathers were unaware, or uncaring, for the money in politics?

[Guest]

Move over Quayle and step aside Palin....Yes, an actual quote:

[_honorentheos]

And we'll do it carefully. And maybe, if it doesn't pass muster, we won't do it all. But it is going to happen, I will tell you. It's going to happen. And it's happening fast.

[_Gunnar]

The more I learn about Anastasia Ocasio-Cortez and her views, the more favorably I am impressed by her, and the more unfavorably impressed I am by those who attempt to smear, denigrate and belittle her. We need more people like her in government, and fewer like Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and others, both Republican and Democrat (yes, some Democrats are also guilty) who cater mostly, if not exclusively, to the wealthy and most avaricious. And we need zero people in government like Donald J. Trump (except to serve as a nearly worst case example of what to avoid)!

I don't really agree that we need more people like Ocasio-Cortez in government. I believe that she is a bit too far left. I believe that we need more people like Sinema in Congress. She is a moderate Democrat who is pretty very bipartisan. I recently voted for her for US Senate, and I am very glad that she is going to be a US Senator next month.

I certainly respect your right to disagree with me, but I still think you are wrong about Ocasio-Cortez. I do agree, however, that having more people like Sinema is also desirable. It may be more desirable to have both types rather than either type alone, so they can moderate each other's positions to reasonable compromises that may be an improvement over what either group might come up with alone. I think Sinema might lean a little bit too much to the conservative side.

[_subgenius]

PHOTOG: “What are you, twenty…?”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “29. I just turned 29.”
PHOTOG: “Happy birthday.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “Thank you! Thank you!”
PHOTOG: “You can’t even run for president for another six years.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “No, not for a long time. Thank God. Although we’ve been joking that because the Equal Rights Amendment hasn’t been passed yet, the Constitution technically says he cannot run unless he’s 35.
So what we’ll do is we’ll force the Republican Party to pass the Equal Rights Amendment by threatening to run for president.”
PHOTOG: “That is awesome. All the people who say a literal interpretation of the Constitution is the only thing you should be paying attention to.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “Exactly, all those Constitutionalists, I will keep vigilance.”

At least she being treated the same as Quayle was, and Palin was...

[_honorentheos]

Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people.