Ocasio-Cortez, DSA seek to give “left” cover to right-wing Democratic Party
By
Niles Niemuth
28 July 2018
Niles Niemuth is the Socialist Equality Party’s candidate for US Congress in Michigan’s 12th Congressional District. To sign up to get involved in the SEP campaign, visit niles2018.com.
The vote for “democratic socialist” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in last month’s Democratic Party primary in New York reflects growing interest in socialist politics and hostility to capitalism, particularly among young people. However, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign is based on a fundamental lie that is fatal to all those who are seeking to oppose inequality, war and the attack on immigrants, namely that anything can be achieved through the Democratic Party.
Workers and young people have already gone through the experience of Bernie Sanders, who in the 2016 elections spoke of a “political revolution” against the “billionaire class.” The real purpose of Sanders’ campaign, however, was realized in his decision to back Hillary Clinton, the candidate of Wall Street and the military. Sanders now occupies a leadership post in the Democratic Party caucus in the US Senate.
The campaign of Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is in the same mold. Her program consists of mild reforms that are inadequate to address poverty and inequality. Her demand for a $15 minimum wage, for example, would still leave millions struggling to survive, and many low-wage employers, such as those at UPS, are already beginning to pay this to part-time workers.
While she says little about foreign policy, she does not oppose the US wars in the Middle East and Central Asia that have already killed more than 1 million people.
Even mild social reforms, however, are…