She's right, both morally and economically
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's ability to harness the news cycle hasn't died down one bit now that the newly-elected New York congresswoman has settled into office. Most of the AOC coverage over the past week continues to be TMZ-ified, focusing on Aaron Sorkin's stuffed-shirt scolding of younger members of Congress and exaggerating Ocasio-Cortez's supposed conflict with other Democrats.
The congressional freshman from the Bronx continues to calmly and unapologetically use her fame for good, however. She used this weekend's news cycle to continue highlighting the evils of wealth inequality, and to draw attention to serious policy fixes for the problem.
On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez attended a symposium where author Ta-Nehisi Coates asked her if it was moral to have "a world that allows for billionaires." Ocasio-Cortez swiftly said it was not. She hastened to note that individual billionaires, such as Bill Gates, may well be good people. But "a system that allows billionaires to exist when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they don’t have access to public health is wrong." ...
… "Do we want to live in a city where billionaires have their own personal Uber helipads," she asked, "in the same city and same society as people who are working 80-hour weeks and can't feed their kids?"
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⏩ Amanda Marcotte is a politics writer for Salon.
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