Ocasio Cortez: Grassroots politics for a brighter future in Bronx and Queens
Post-partisan was a new word to me before I interviewed one of the most refreshing people I’ve chatted with about U.S. politics and current affairs: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Listen to the full interview in our weekly Newsvoice Think podcast.
In a complex political environment across the globe. Young activists and politicians are finally waking up to the fact that common ground must be met if an ailing, depleted planet is to be saved from a very Corporate ‘get rich first and worry about it tomorrow’ attitude that pervades the U.S. today. Ocasio-Cortez is just one of the many normal — everyday working people — that Brand New Congress is supporting to inject new life into a political system that has for too long been dominated by a two-party, partisan system.
Going up against an opponent — a man: Joe Crowley, who has worked in government and politics for longer than Alex has been alive — doesn’t faze Ocasio-Cortez whose short, yet varied and fulfilling life experience has more than prepared her for the challenge that lies ahead of the NY-14 Primary in June ‘17.
Public road infrastructure, draconian voter registration systems in New York State and the role corporations play in the media were just a few of the subjects we discussed as a new generation of activists — emboldened by the Sanders ’16 campaign — look to change America for the better.
Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez started her career working for the late Senator Kennedy, but what made her drop out, only to make a dramatic comeback for the Bronx and Queens area where she is from? She told us.
Her family is from Puerto Rico, and as we discussed road infrastructure in the U.S., why it is important as a public facility rather than in private hands, Alex told us that Wall Street “practically own Puerto Rico” and described how road tolls are hammering residents there with up to $30 passage fees.
Going up against the seasoned veteran in NY–14, Joseph Crowley, she tells us how her team — with such a strong, grassroots movement — has corporate candidates like Crowley on the back foot. Alex decries the way private-equity and pharmaceutical companies have their foot in practically every door within the Democratic Party and that her campaign is about real people: better lives for families who have for too long suffered at the hands of U.S. conglomerates.
However, corporate influence doesn’t begin and end at the doors of oil companies et al. The media, a place where the public should hope at least to look to for a modicum of impartial information on their public offices and politicians, are equally embroiled in a profit-comes-first attitude over the lives of millions of U.S. citizens who just want basic, clean and affordable amenities.
Check out Alex’s campaign for the June 26 congressional primary at her website, with thanks to Daniel and her team who helped us arrange the interview.
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