OPINION:
The newly elected self-declared socialist congresswoman for New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, just hit at Republicans for so-called “drooling” at the chance to criticize her and said that instead of standing at the ready to go public with all her mistakes and missteps, they ought to instead “actually step up enough to make the argument they want to make.”
OK. Invitation accepted. So here goes: Socialists don’t belong in American politics.
Socialists don’t even belong in American society.
President Donald Trump may call the media the enemy of the people. But that title, that badge, that phrase of scorn and derision, more rightly belongs on the chest of those who say they’re American but at the same time claim political adherence to socialism, either formally — through the party, and its various offspring parties — or informally, in ideology.
Drum them out.
Yes, that’s right, socialists are the enemy of America, the antithesis of the American dream, the bold-face opposers to all that the Founding Fathers represented — to all that patriots over the long, sometimes bloody decades have fought to preserve.
A pretty smile doesn’t change that fact. An engaging personality doesn’t change that. A pretended compassionate concern for the working guy doesn’t change that, either.
Neither do polls showing certain segments of U.S. society, like millennials, actually see socialism as a favorable form of government.
Socialists. Don’t. Belong.
Ocasio-Cortez, as part of her congressional duties, has to take this oath — and, ostensibly, adhere to its principles during her years of service: “I, [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
How can she seriously utter those words when every fiber of her being stands in direct opposition to their original meaning?
It’s bad enough when Republicans and Democrats use the elastic clause — Article One, Section Eight — to stretch and tear and shape and bend the Constitution to personal political will, for personal political ends. Most of America’s modern politicians are quasi-socialists by Founding Father comparison, anyway.
But taking the next step and allowing open socialists to serve as our political representatives?
That’s an abomination.
It’s an abomination to the Constitution, it’s an affront to the brave patriots who risked all to fight the tyrannical king of England, it’s a face-slap to the scores and scores of military members and families who gave everything for the cause of individual freedom and it’s a stomach-churning, spit-inducing ’diss to the millions upon millions who’ve fought in their own quiet ways to keep America the land of the free.
America is about the individual — about the God-given right.
America is not about the “for the greater good” collective.
So when Ocasio-Cortez tweets this — “Maybe instead of Republicans drooling over every minute of footage of me in slow-mo, waiting to chop up word slips that I correct in real-[time], they actually step up enough to make the argument they want to make: that they don’t believe people deserve a right to healthcare” — the proper, American response is this: Nice spin.
But the truth — the American truth, the non-socialist true American truth — is that U.S. citizens have all the rights in the world to purchase and obtain health care for their selves and families. They just don’t have the right to demand government via taxpayers provide or pay for it. Once again, for those in the back of the room: Government-provided, government-paid health insurance is not a right.
Ocasio-Cortez certainly isn’t the only politician these days who doesn’t get that.
She is one of the few who touts her openly socialist leanings as fueling her political platforms, though.
And that alone makes her ineligible to represent this country by serving in public office.
America was never intended to be a socialist country. Americans should never, no, not ever, tolerate openly socialist individuals serving us in office. Once again, it’s an abomination to all in this country that is dear.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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