 So for those who are long-time viewers of the Humanist Report, I have talked for years now on this program That we need electoral reform. It's not necessarily something that I Over-emphasize, but I always touch on it like we need to make sure that we have more than just two parties because the two-party Diwopoli isn't working. It's just a bunch of ghouls who serve the same financial interests That are ruining the country ruining the planet and we need more options because two options isn't enough Especially considering they're not really, you know that different So AOC a member of the squad is someone who has been doing I think a phenomenal job at representing progressives in Congress She's not perfect, but nobody is but she said something that really speaks to One of my issues with the political system that there aren't enough choices and because of our two-party Diwopoli we're essentially in the situation where conservatives get their own party and centrists and the left and socialists are forced to share a party which It doesn't make for a great political alliance given that, you know, we don't just have Different goals, but our goals are diametrically opposed to the goals Of centrists. We want Medicare for all. They're actively trying to stop Medicare for all We want tuition free public colleges and universities and they don't even want to go that far you know, we'd be lucky to find someone that supports the first two years of Community college being free for example in the Democratic Party who's a centrist so we butt heads a lot and This is causing a lot of friction within the Democratic Party And it's allowing Republicans to dominate and it shouldn't be this way So AOC expressed this and I wanted to share what she had to say because she essentially summarized My take over the last, you know, several years. It's been my take forever But for those of you who have been listening to the podcast, you know that I've been saying something similar to this So as Quint Forgy of Politico writes Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview published Monday that Democrats nationwide can cultivate two big Of a tent asserting that she and her party's 2020 front-runner former vice president Joe Biden would be in different political parties in any Other nation asked for a profile by New York magazine about what role she might play as a member of Congress Should Biden capture the White House the freshman House Democrat from New York responded with a groan Oh God, she said in any other country Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party But in America we are a spokesperson for the Biden campaign did not immediately return a request for comment Yeah, my thoughts exactly We should not be sharing a party with centrists because Conservatives, you know, they get to share a party with people that they largely agree with I mean there are certainly differences Within the Republican Party there. I think the biggest difference is likely the neocons and libertarians But also you have, you know, fundamentalist evangelicals in that party along with individuals who are more nationalistic and xenophobic But at the end of the day, they all have intersecting goals Whereas that's not the case in the Democratic Party We are pushing for changes radical reforms that Conflict with what the Democratic Party wants because they have donors That don't want to enact the changes that we want to enact because that threatens them Existentially health care being the number one example, but when she says that, you know, we can cultivate a tent. That's too big Yeah, Democrats boast about, you know, the Democratic Party being a big tent and they don't realize that that's not actually a good thing When you have a tent that's too big that leads to ideological Incoherency, right? It becomes difficult to assess what any particular individual Believes in the Democratic Party because when you vote for a party People use and political science research indicates this people use party labels as information shortcuts So when you see Democrat, you know, you can assume a number of things about them They are in favor of the women's reproductive rights They're in favor of LGBTQ rights, for example, when you see a Republican that means they're going to be more fiscally and socially conservative But I mean it's getting to the point now where when you look at that Democrat label, you don't know what it means You could be looking at someone who is Centrist maybe even center-right or someone who's a socialist and that just doesn't make for a good political alliance especially considering our ideologies are Butting heads with one another, right? I mean, it's not even like the Democratic Party is comprised of reformers like Elizabeth Warren That in and of itself would be an issue But we need radical change and we can't get radical change so long as we are being Dragged down by Democrats and I've said this before and there's really no way to facilitate this But Democrats need to be the de facto right-wing party and we need a new progressive party either that or we need party Realignment where all of the conservative Democrats flee the party and they go to the Republican Party and then the Centrists and the right-wingers are forced to duke it out. Why should we have to battle with people who are Not going to fight for what we believe in we want Medicare for all they're trying to stop Medicare for all but Republicans and Centrist Democrats they both don't agree with Medicare for all so they should be in the same party They're the ones who should be sharing that ideal ideological space not us, right? So that's why my hopes is that if we don't get electoral reform in the near future One we keep pushing for ranked choice voting because that's an easy reform to enact at the state level especially, you know Via ballot initiative But two I hope that in the event Bernie becomes the nominee this catalyzes a party realignment where centrist Democrats are So, you know against the idea of a social Democrat running the party that they leave the party They joined the Republican Party now if this were to happen This is something that rarely happens the media would freak out because they would see this as oh well Bernie is destroying the party, but every once in a while that has to happen, right? You have to have party realignment So that way, you know, you have overlap with the voters of the party that they're supposed to represent and the app actual You know elected members of that party. It's incredibly important. So that's what I hope but you know long story short AOC is Absolutely explaining very eloquently what I've said for years now There now there's a little bit more that I want to share Ocasio-Cortez also offered criticism in Monday's story for Congressional Democrats Accusing her party's lawmakers of too often working to appease the interests of their most conservative members She has frequently broken with House Democratic leadership since assuming office in January 2019 for so long when I first got in people were like Oh, you are going to basically be a tea party of the left and what people don't realize is that there is a tea party of The left, but it's on the right edges the most conservative parts of the Democratic Party Ocasio-Cortez said so the Democratic Party has a role to play in this problem, and it's like we're not allowed to talk about it We're not allowed to talk about anything wrong. The Democratic Party does she continued I think I have created more room for dissent and we're learning to stretch our wings a little bit on the left Ocasio-Cortez said the Congressional Progressive Caucus of which she is a member should expel lawmakers without adequate liberal Bonafides Charging that they let anybody with the cat dragged in call themselves progressives. There's no standard. That is exactly it So the takeaway is that we don't have to just settle we can keep pushing for change now Ideally, I would love to see you know a system where we have proportional representation We increase the district magnitude from one to three Which just means that instead of us voting for one member of Congress, you know Maybe we vote for one member of Congress, but the candidates with the top three scores or top top three percentage totals All go to Congress, right? We need change but in the short term rank choice voting is something that actually can work It has made a Green Party Senate candidate viable in the state of Maine But on top of that in the event Bernie Sanders becomes the nominee. That is our path towards party realignment Possibly again, there's no way to really facilitate this, right? But you we can just hope it happens if he's the nominee I don't think it would happen right away But if he becomes president you're going to see individuals possibly like Joe Manchin want to flee the party because they feel as if That's what's going to help them become more electorally viable in the future So at the end of the day AOC is absolutely right. We should not be forced to share a party with centrists Why doesn't the far right have to share the same party with individuals like Joe Biden? And Nancy Pelosi We're forced to share when they should be forced to share So the message is that we're taking over this party and anyone who isn't progressive who isn't a leftist or a socialist social Democrat or Democratic socialist. I don't care, but if you're not on the left and you're in the center You leave because we're taking over this party because we need a party that actually represents the left in this country And not just two right-wing parties one center, right one far, right?