In a tweet this afternoon, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) praised workers at Wayfair for calling on the company to stop selling beds to entities housing children at the border. Apparently tomorrow some employees are prepared to stage a walk-out rather than help children have a decent bed to sleep in. AOC said in her tweet that “this is what solidarity looks like.”
Wayfair workers couldn’t stomach they were making beds to cage children.
They asked the company to stop. CEO said no.
Tomorrow, they‘re walking out.
This is what solidarity looks like – a reminder that everyday people have real power, as long as we’re brave enough to use it. https://t.co/667abeLDTG
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 25, 2019
Her position should come as no surprise as she spent much of last night and today arguing against a new funding bill that would alleviate the suffering of children on the border that has arisen from the migration crisis. Ever the pebble in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s shoe, Ocasio-Cortez has been riling up progressive Democrats to stop the funding, even though it certainly means that current conditions will not be ameliorated.
Her logic is cold, callous, calculated and cruel; rather than compromise in the slightest with the Trump administration, AOC would see children harmed so that Trump gets a black eye and the crisis gets worse. But why? Why would someone who claims to be horrified by the situation not want to help fix it? The answer appears to be that AOC rejects any effort to stop anyone from simply entering the country. To her there is no crisis, we should simply abandon the idea of a wall and replace it with turnstiles.
What is particularly troubling about her stand in favor of these Wayfair workers trying to deny kids beds is that she is explicitly asking a private business to refuse to do business with the government. Now I understand that AOC doesn’t like that Donald Trump got elected president—as a New Yorker I’m not over the moon about her getting elected—but as a former president once said, elections have consequences.
Should private companies only contract with the government, or government-related nonprofits, if the right party is in power? Should kids be left to sleep on the floor to send a message to Donald Trump? AOC’s answer is yes. It is classic Marxism; what matters—the only thing that matters, in fact—is for the state to be all things for all people. In her utopia, no private company would supply beds, the government would make the beds. And if a few kids have to suffer to make that dream happen, then their sacrifice will be memorialized.
While many House Democrats are frantically trying to pass legislation to deal with a crisis, AOC and her progressive pals are more than happy to see the situation get worse. They want to starve the beast, even if that means hurting kids. It is a despicable and detestable position.
It is past time for Pelosi and moderate Democrats to stop playing ball with these people. This goes well beyond politics. Ocasio-Cortez and her ilk want America to fail, to look bad, to sink into the kind of misery and despair that only communism can fix. These kids need beds. The government wants to provide them; Wayfair wants to sell them. It’s time for AOC and the Justice Democrats to get out of the way and let adults address this problem.