The 116th Congress will take office on January 3rd. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest and one of the most intriguing members of the new congress. The Bronx native has captured the imagination of millions of young people with her audacity, charm, and transparency. Through social media, she is literally taking 75 million millennials on this unlikely journey with her. Her popularity has right-wing pundits like Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson taking potshots at her almost daily, and even members of her own party quietly call her everything from naïve to dangerous. Whether she can end up being an effective legislator is still uncertain, but I like her a lot. Sure, her passion is infectious, but it’s her positivity that I love the most. Everything she is about is good, and for the genuine benefit of others. While I hope Ocasio-Cortez learns to pick her battles, I also hope she never loses the idealism that makes her so unique. Authentic, Latinx, young, and female — both Democrats and Republicans better take notice that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the future of American politics.
Almost everyone, including Democrats, were expecting last Tuesday’s midterm election results to heavily favor Republicans. Many predicted a “red wave” where they would pick up 50-60 seats in the House and 3-4 in the Senate. Joe Rogan said the red wave that is coming will be like the elevator doors opening in the horror film The Shining.
For most people, there is little upside to writing about the January 6th hearings, but as you probably know by now, I don’t worry about those things. We all must stand for something. The hearings have almost everyone taking sides before a single witness is called. Democrats believe that the events of January 6th were a calculated effort to undermine our democracy by demolishing two of the most sacred tenants of our nation, free elections, and the peaceful transition of power.
Most people consider themselves either a conservative or a liberal. I think if we forget political parties, which flip their positions on things all of the time, and instead focus on the actual definition of what it means to be a conservative and what it means to be a liberal, we might be able to temper the emotional reactions some of us have with political discourse.