It is probably redundant and unnecessary to observe that power corrupts. This is one of the fundamental truths of life that no one denies. But it can still be instructive to witness the process in real time. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been in office for less than three months and this comparatively small amount of power, just recently acquired, has sent her into a galactic ego trip.
A few days ago, Cortez declared that she is the first Democrat to “even try” and pass environmentalist legislation, which, she says, makes her “the boss.” Shortly after this embarrassing display of childish arrogance, she questioned whether it is moral to have kids: “Our planet is going to hit disaster if we don’t turn this ship around and so it’s basically like, there’s a scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult. And it does lead, I think, young people to have a legitimate question, you know, ‘Is it okay to still have children?'”
She got into office in January, it’s not yet March, but she’s already giving us lectures on the morality of human reproduction.
We shouldn’t be surprised, of course, coming from one of the authors of the Green New Deal. Despite not knowing the branches of government, she believes she is equipped to fundamentally transform our economy and reshape our society. She wants to control how we travel, what we eat, and what sort of buildings we live in. She has even told us how much money we are allowed to make. There does not appear to be any aspect of our lives that AOC thinks falls outside of her purview. If she had her way, she would tear everything down and recreate it in her own image. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an American politician develop a god complex so quickly. She even delivers End Times prophesies.
AOC the prophet, the revolutionary, the engineer, the architect, the moral philosopher, the dietician, the cow euthanizer. Her perception of herself is limited only by her ego, which itself appears to be limitless. It is extremely fortunate that Cortez’s practical legislative power does not come anywhere close to her perceived power. She has more influence on Instagram than she has in Congress, where members of her own party are embarrassed by her. But she is valuable as a case study. This is what happens when a person raised in an egocentric society, indoctrinated into the religion of self, unmoored from the humbling influence of Judeo-Christian values, starved for attention, addicted to social media, then goes on to achieve a measure of actual political power. Such a person, it seems, will be power-drunk within minutes because they weren’t exactly sober going in.
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