Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) offered some words of advice to concerned progressives Friday following the news of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, stressing that a vote for Joe Biden is “not about whether you agree with him,” but about allowing democracy to “live another day”–because “November’s about survival.”
The freshman lawmaker took to Instagram after the news of Ginsburg’s passing and begged viewers to check their voter registration, all while she pitched why the upcoming election is so important.
“I understand why people say, ‘I don’t vote. What’s the point?’ I really empathize with it. I’m not here to dismiss you. I’m not here to pooh-pooh you. I’m not here to say you’re wrong or that you’re a bad person,” she said, proclaiming that voting is no longer about agreeing with Joe Biden (D) personally.
“What I’m here to say is that this year, this election voting for someone — voting for Joe Biden is not about whether you agree with him. It’s a vote to let our democracy live another day,” she warned. “That’s what this is about”:
“We have an authoritarian president. … November’s about survival.” pic.twitter.com/5q7xmlsi5e
— Hannah Bleau 🍓 (@hannahbleau_) September 19, 2020
Ocasio-Cortez said progressives must “act in solidarity” for the “most vulnerable” people who “have already experienced the violent repercussions of this administration”:
And the reason we need to do that is because, yes, the political middle is willing to sacrifice immigrants. The political middle, too often, is willing to play both sides when someone dies to police violence. Absolutely. That’s why we need to show up. We need to show up because if we don’t show up, those people don’t get protected. Our trans brothers and sisters will not be protected. Our immigrant brothers and sisters will not be protected. Our brothers and sisters who are not making a living wage that are working at McDonald’s and that they aren’t being paid a living wage or they’re working at Amazon and they’re being forced to work in unsafe conditions…we got to show up for them. That’s what we need to show up for.
No singular politician is the answer, she continued, pegging voters as the answer.
“You are the answer. Mass movements are the answer. Millions of people are the answer. You are the answer. And so I need you. We need you. Even in Congress, we can’t do it alone. So we need you to show up,” she continued, urging voters to “organize in their communities.”
Ocasio-Cortez also spoke about President Trump directly, calling him an “authoritarian” who has “no regard for the dignity of human life.” She also warned that the election is about “survival.”
“We have an authoritarian president,” she stated definitively. “That’s what we have. He has no regard for the dignity of human life. He has no regard for law. He has no regard for justice. He has no regard for anything unless it personally helps him and his power and his money and that of the Republican establishment. That’s just what it is. It’s just what it is,” she continued:
So listen. On the left, there’s a lot of–there’s a huge diversity, right? And we get mad at each other. That’s the way it is because it’s incredibly frustrating. I get incredibly frustrated. You all know I get incredibly frustrated with my own party, too. We all have our disagreements. That’s fine because we all recognize that November–frankly I wish it wasn’t like this; it only serves to highlight the brokenness of our entire system–but whether we like it or not, November’s about survival. November’s about survival.
She added that progressives need to work to “honor all of those who came before us” in fighting for the future and applauded them for persisting in the face of hopelessness.
Ocasio-Cortez said those figures allowed “us to be here, and now, we need to work to allow, you know, one day when we are ancestors, for us to allow the people that are to come, to be here, too. And to thrive, too,” she said. “That’s what this is about.”
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