On January 8th, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demanded that Donald Trump “defend” funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If you’re a regular reader, you may remember that I pointed out she had voted to fund ICE just a week prior. I wasn’t alone. Various outlets made the case that it was clearly hypocritical to trash the President for funding that she herself supported.
Apparently, she’s learned her lesson.
Today, Ocasio-Cortez became the sole Democrat to vote against her own party’s’ effort to re-open the federal government. To her credit – and yes, we’ll get to that in a moment – her objection was specifically related to the fact that the Dems’ bill included funding for ICE.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the lone House Democrat to vote against a bill to fund and reopen the government on Wednesday because it funded Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which she supports abolishing.
The progressive from New York, who has built a massive following, said she broke from her party because she did not want any funding allocated to the agency — which activists have railed against over the past year.
“Most of our votes are pretty straightforward, but today was a tough/nuanced call,” she wrote in an Instagram story. “We didn’t vote with the party because one of the spending bills included ICE funding, and our community felt strongly about not funding that.”
Now, to be clear, Ocasio-Cortez is wrong on the practical substance of this issue. ICE isn’t a collection of Nazis, as many Democrats would have you believe. Enforcing our borders isn’t “immoral,” and deporting those who enter the country illegally isn’t “evil.” ICE exists to enforce our nation’s laws and they should be applauded for the effort.
However… I’m going to go out on a limb and give kudos to the “young fresh face” of the Democratic party. We could use more politicians who stick to their guns – even when their guns are poorly manufactured, rusted over, and non-functional.
Ocasio-Cortez was elected by people who think ICE should be abolished. Yes, it’s easy to cast a difficult vote when you know it won’t change the outcome, but at least she did the bidding of those who put her in office. I don’t agree with it, but she’s the employee of her constituents. This is what she’s supposed to do.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a socialist who feels this country’s immigration laws are monstrous. She has derided wealth as immoral, seeks an open-borders nation, thinks the world is ending, and favors a massive boost in costly social programs. Those ideals form the basis of her platform.
I don’t believe these are winning arguments. I personally feel her ideology is doomed, and her opinions are non-starters for most of the country. That said, I’d rather have that debate with someone who’s honest about her goals than a person like Barack Obama – someone who held all the same positions but buried them under the guise of a low-tax, small government, politician.
So, Bravo to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. If only more politicians would heed the will of the voters, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in.
Via WesternJournal
