Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made history as the youngest woman ever to be elected to the House of Representatives at 29, and she’s being hailed by the media as the de facto leader of the incoming House Democrat Freshman class. While her fans are excited at the prospect of a millennial socialist promising free stuff, what has gone glaringly overlooked is her striking lack of understanding of how the government, where she’s been elected to serve, actually works.
Someone get this woman a civics book.
In a painful-to-watch video Ocasio-Cortez called the three branches of government the three “chambers,” not the first time she’s been confused. In her world the three chambers of government are the House, Senate, and the Presidency.
I decided to ask my fifth grader if she knew what the three “chambers” of government were. Her response: “Do you mean branches?” Why yes, yes I do. And then she proceeded to name the legislative, executive and judicial branches.
Congratulations, you’re smarter than a Congresswoman.
Gee, How Does Congress Work?
Prior to being elected she talked about how she wanted to sign bills into law right after being inaugurated in January. For someone with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Boston University, Ocasio-Cortez is shockingly uneducated on how a bill becomes a law and oblivious to the fact that the president is the only person inaugurated. My fifth grader, who holds no degree and is currently only in the baby stages of algebra can tell you how a bill becomes a law.
I know it was before her time, but perhaps Ocasio-Cortez should watch the School House Rock video, “I’m Just a Bill,” so at least she understands the separation of powers and the most basic role of Congress after she gets sworn in, not inaugurated, in January.
On the campaign trail this summer in Kansas City with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Ocasio-Cortez got her colors mixed up when she excitedly expressed hope the Democrats would flip a particular House seat red. Oops.
And, yes even my fifth grader is aware “red” seats are associated with Republicans and “blue” seats are associated with Democrats.
Government 101 For Ocasio-Cortez
If a fifth grader has a better grasp on Government 101 than a newly elected official then perhaps it’s time for a crash course. While my child is smart, I can assure you she’s no anomaly. You could walk into her fifth grade class and would likely get the same answers from any of her classmates.
More seriously, this week on Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez compared members of the migrant caravan trying to cross the border into the U.S. to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.
Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., urged her to brush up on her history by visiting the Holocaust museum. Perhaps that should be her first stop when she gets to Washington. A little perspective on what was amounted to an annihilation of two-thirds of the Jewish population might serve as an eye opening and somber history lesson for her.
Interestingly, her belief that our country can afford free college and free health care would seem to run counter to her education background at Boston University. According to the University’s website, “The major in Economics provides students with a firm understanding of core microeconomic and macroeconomic theory while at the same time providing the empirical skills that are essential to applying economic reasoning in our increasingly data-driven world.”
Socialism’s Many Failures
In the many decades and many places that socialism and all its “free” stuff has been tried there’s been no economic reasoning to favorably support its effects on any country. In fact it’s failed every time.
If the leader of this new class isn’t smarter than a fifth grader, should they really be trusted? Is she indicative of a new wave of millennials just like her who we can expect to see in the halls of Congress in the coming years — millennials who are smart enough to get elected to Congress but not smart enough to have a clue what Congress does?
This is not a promising picture to paint of up and coming millennials. Should she be re-elected in her safely “blue” seat for the next several cycles, she —and others just like her —could be the faces and future leaders of the Democratic Party.
Here’s to hoping a civics book is part of her “Welcome to Washington” pack.