Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday that an upper-middle class “with soccer moms with two vans and stuff” no longer exists in America, The Daily Caller reported.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez discussed Democratic strategies and her idea of socialism in America during an interview for “Pod Save America.”
“Their heyday was in the ’90s when kids had like Furbies and you had like soccer moms with two vans and stuff,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said. “That’s not America anymore!”
The New York Democrat, who unseated long-time incumbent, Rep. Joe Crowley, suggested the older members of her party are out of touch. She said they don’t understand how rising income inequality has shaped the political landscape.
During the conversation, the rising Democratic star said her party is not investing in younger candidates.
She said that established Democrats are “feverishly working” on their own re-elections, but neglecting to support rising younger campaigns is why Republicans are winning. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez explained that these older representatives relied on a demographic that no longer exists.
“A lot of these folk were in their political heyday in third-way ’90s politics,” she said, “I think that like politically this upper-middle class is probably more moderate, but that upper-middle class does not exist anymore in America.”
When asked what the difference was between capitalists who want a regulated free market and her brand of socialism, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said there wasn’t much separating them. She explained that someone who wanted a “pure free market” couldn’t stand for the Affordable Care Act or tuition-free college.
The democratic socialist argued that capitalism wasn’t the only way to invest in the country, and Americans didn’t need to rely solely on corporations to build wealth.
“When we, for example, decided to take the affirmative and bold step into building an interstate highway system, into electrifying this country, into providing tuition-free public K-12 education, those are not capitalist things,” she said.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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