Much has been written about the meteoric rise of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in the past year (now affectionally referred to as “AOC”). She was an outsider, a political unknown who was able to knock off an establishment political figure in what should have been a cakewalk primary for him. After that, she was pretty much guaranteed ascendance to a Congressional seat.

Now, as much as political pundits like to make fun of AOC and her ideals. Her lack of common economic sense and ability to account for money that the United States simply does not have does not stop her from promising the world to her constituency. Combine that with her incessant need to be trending on social media as Congress’s first social media influencer, her bold ideas and half baked solutions are a harbinger of something more troublesome that is happening in politics.

The truth of the matter is that for as much as Botox as she injects into her face, political figures like Nancy Pelosi can’t live forever. If that were true they would have pumped so much Botox into the notorious RBG that she wouldn’t have been able to open her mouth to ask any questions during oral arguments.

No, the fact of the matter is that the Pelosi’s of the current political landscape won’t last forever, and eventually, over time new figures will rise and take her spot.

One thing is for certain, we should not treat AOC as a political anomaly. She is not a blip or a random occurrence. No, AOC is a merely a sign of things to come.

AOC is the first of what will most likely be many more millennial political figures. She is the product of the millennial culture and we see it in her policy arguments. She proposes that someone else pay for her health care, her income, and her housing. She takes academia and tries to shoehorn it into the real world. Whether they are practical or not, her logic is a product of growing up in a time when life was pretty easy for Americans. Millennials grew up not knowing a bad economy. Only to be shocked into reality during their formative teenage years by a recession that was brought on by the banks, and subsequently bailed out by the government. It’s the equivalent of one child telling a parent it’s not fair that they won’t buy them a car because they had to bail out their older sibling for getting in trouble.

Think about her answer when asked about how she’s going to pay for her ambitious social programs.

“You just pay for it.”

This answer reeks of an entitled attitude of a millennial who thinks their parents have unlimited funds to pay for anything.

Think about a similar exchange with a millennial asking their parents for a new car and then being asked how they were going to pay for it.

“You just pay for it.”

The scary part of this attitude is that AOC thinks she is completely justified in believing that the U.S can just “pay for it.” The truth is the U.S government is still enormously in debt. We are running deficits every year in spending. To simply believe that we “just pay for it” is naive of the real world. It speaks to a bigger problem with millennial politicians who will start entering government.

The Kim Kardashian of Politics

This article is not meant to be a specific hit piece on AOC. Lord knows there are enough of those out there. But there is something bigger here that we should be worried about. Millennial politicians are coming, and they are going to emulate AOC because she speaks their language. She is constantly on social media “clapping back” at her detractors. She pulls stunts in Congress to get more air time on networks like CNN and MSNBC. Her constant need to be the Kim Kardashian of Congress is something many like to mock now, but we should not take her lightly. (I feel bad for taking a shot at Kim K because she’s actually working for criminal justice reform with the President, but the point is made.)

More are coming. More will run for office and more will get elected because they will promise free stuff at the cost of others. They will point the finger at the wealthy and say they owe them something. They will tweet and Snapchat incessantly to rile up their base. Instead of coming to the table and putting up their policies for debate, they will simply run to social media whenever there is pushback and say “Look out how mean these people are being to me!” or some other cute retort that lacks substance.

How to Prepare for the Millennial Politician

Those who see the writing on the wall should start adapting their techniques for this political change now if there is ever a chance to stop them. There will be more AOC’s coming, proposing even more radical proposals to stake out their little spot of political ground.

The first place to start is to fight fire with fire. Social media is important, it gets your message out more effectively. But instead of simply retweeting “LOL this is person is so dumb,” people have to start calling them out for their ridiculous policies. Further, those who are right of far left have to change the topic of discussion. Don’t argue with someone on their own turf. When someone sets the parameters of an argument and you have to argue within them, most of the time you lose. The conversation has to change.

This may mean ignoring the AOC’s completely. Stop giving them oxygen as they say. The more you engage the more they “clap back” and score social media points for doing so.

Simply don’t engage.

It’s like George Bernard Shaw once said, “Never wrestle with a pig because you have to get down in the mud and the pig likes it.” Politicians like AOC want you to debate them on social media. Why not debate them in person? Why not call them out on the fact they can’t really defend their positions?

The truth of the matter is, we can stand here and point our finger and laugh at politicians like AOC, or we can start to adapt now and be ready for more like her when they do start to get elected.

It’s easier now since there’s only one of her, but when there are dozens it will be harder to combat.

Bottom line, millennial politicians are coming, better to prepare now before they overtake government and ruin everything.