An incoherent advocate economic “evolution”:

Self-declared Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated Rep. Joe Crowley (D., N.Y.) in a congressional primary last month, said Friday that material gains under capitalism were the result of “human evolution.”

Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old whom DNC Chairman Tom Perez called “the future of our party,” explained her views on democratic socialism to “Firing Line” host Margaret Hoover. Hoover asked about the future of capitalism and pointed out that it’s the economic system that has brought the most people out of poverty, but Ocasio-Cortez attributed modern prosperity to humanity’s natural growth.

“I think that those things that you talk about, that you discuss, are part of the course of human evolution,” she said. “So I would hope that the most recent economic system, our current economic system, is the one that is most beneficial for everyday people.”

She added that her preferred system of democratic socialism would work best if people were only to vote for something if it is “a good idea.”

“When we talk about democratically socialist economies, first of all, they’re done with the full input of everybody,” she said. “You vote. It’s democratic. So if something is not a good idea, it doesn’t get voted for, ideally.”

She granted that capitalism was temporarily the “most efficient and best” system, but that it must change “as we evolve.”

“We’re starting to see that the people who create value in society are not experiencing any portion of the value that they are creating. So I do think that, absolutely, capitalism was the most efficient and best economy, perhaps, for the time that it was at, perhaps. But as we evolve, as automation begins to take out extremely large industries, we have to say that we aren’t going to throw those people away,” she said.

On whether democratic socialism calls for an end to capitalism, the candidate expressed openness to the idea.

“Ultimately we are marching towards progress on this issue. I do think that we are going to see an evolution in our economic system of an unprecedented degree. And it’s hard to say what direction that that takes,” she said.

Hoover pressed on whether she though capitalism would be the dominant system in the future, and Ocasio-Cortez said, “it’s absolutely a question.”

It’s obvious that no one ever previously asked Ocasio-Cortez a serious question about economics. She was not educated, but indoctrinated, in far-left ideas at Boston University. Her assertion that “the people who create value in society are not experiencing any portion of the value that they are creating” is straight-out Marxism, and is as false now as it was when Marx published Das Kapital. Even the poorest members of a free society benefit from the wealth and technological advances created by a capitalist economy, and socialism (“democratic” or otherwise) is not “progress.” Ocasio-Cortez here is invoking two Marxist myths — capitalism as a system of “exploiting” workers, and the idea of history as progressing in stages toward communist revolution.

As I say, it is obvious that Ocasio-Cortez has never been asked serious questions by anyone who disagrees with her far-left opinions, and this is true of the vast majority of young Democrats, who attended schools where nearly all the faculty were Democrats, which leads the student to assume that all intelligent people agree with them. The deliberate exclusion of conservatives from academia has consequences. It would be amusing if someone were to ask Ocasio-Cortez if she’s ever heard of Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek or Thomas Sowell.

Meanwhile, of course, Ocasio-Cortez has foreign-policy ideas:

In May, she condemned the Israeli military for firing on rioters in Gaza attempting to breach Israel’s border fence, calling the Jewish state’s actions a “massacre.” Almost all of the Palestinians killed were found to have terror ties. . . .

After Ocasio-Cortez said she “absolutely” believes Israel has a right to exist, “Firing Line” host Margaret Hoover asked what she means by the Israeli “occupation.” The candidate said it has to do with settlements that infringe on Palestinians’ housing.

“I think what I meant is, like, the settlements that are increasing in these areas, where Palestinians are experiencing difficulty in access to their housing and homes,” she said.

“I am not the expert on geopolitics on this issue,” she added with a laugh. “I am a firm believer in finding a two-state solution on this issue, and I’m happy to sit down with leaders on both of these—for me, I just look at things through a human rights lens, and I may not use the right words. I know this is a very intense issue.”

In the interview, Ocasio-Cortez referred to “the occupation of Palestine,” although no Palestinian state currently exists. She went on to explain that this is an important issue on which she is “willing to learn and evolve.”

She is “not the expert on geopolitics,” even though she majored in international relations at Boston University?







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