Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Cruz & Roy are first Republicans, ANYWHERE, to handle Occasio-Cortez correctly


"Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken."
Ecclesiastes 4:12

By now you've heard:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz committed on Thursday to partner up with his political opposite, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to move legislation that would ban members of Congress from becoming corporate lobbyists after they leave public life.
The two were joined by Chip Roy.

This is an obvious, no-brainer, idea that should have been enacted a long time ago.  That it hasn't been speaks to the perverse incentives riddling congress.  We applaud Senator Cruz and Representatives Cortez and Roy for forcing the discussion.  Godspeed.

There's another, more important, point to consider.

Alexandria Occasio-Cortez has been a national political figure for about a year. Yes, we have seen some criticism of her ideas & policies.  But we've seen a lot more derogatory commentary about people who work in the service industry.  And this taking her out of context to make her look stupid schtick needs to die.

Alexandria Occasio-Cortez's success comes from her willingness to call out obvious nonsense in the American economy.  It was the theme of her campaign.  It was why she live-tweeted the Congressional brainwashing session.  It's why she ridicules some of the more transparent phonies in recent memory.

Most of the time, she just goes after low-hanging fruit no-one else wants to touch...

...which is why seeing Ted Cruz and Chip Roy take her up on that low hanging fruit was so refreshing.

There's no reason why Alexandria Occasio-Cortez should have this issue to herself.

Let's not kid ourselves: Banning members of Congress from becoming lobbyists faces GIGANTIC institutional opposition.  But that's no reason not to try.  At a minimum, you get some positive media coverage out of it.

It's certainly a more intelligent strategy than disparaging people who work in the service industry.

Bottom Line: Maybe it shouldn't be that way.  But it is.  If we can actually ban former members of congress from becoming lobbyists, so much the better.

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