>>936263913
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez means well, but her policy ideas go against the hard-learned lessons of political progress. Liberal democracy and free markets aren't just Western preferences—they're discoveries about what actually works for human flourishing that took centuries to figure out. AOC's proposals would throw away this wisdom for untested theories that sound good but ignore reality.
Markets didn't just happen by accident. Over hundreds of years, societies figured out that when people can own property, trade freely, and compete fairly, everyone ends up better off. This isn't capitalist propaganda—it's a discovery about human nature as important as learning that democracy beats dictatorship.
AOC's Green New Deal wants the government to control huge chunks of the economy through job guarantees and massive spending programs. But we've tried central planning before. It fails because no bureaucrat, however smart, can coordinate millions of people's needs and wants better than a market can.
When government tries to run the economy, it concentrates power in ways that corrupt the natural relationships between people. Markets spread power around—every purchase is a vote, every entrepreneur can try new ideas. Central planning puts all the power in politicians' hands, which never ends well.
Everyone agrees we need to protect the environment. But AOC's approach ignores the best tools we have for solving problems: markets and innovation.
Instead of working with human nature, the Green New Deal wants to force change through government mandates. But we've learned that the best way to solve complex problems is to set up the right incentives and let people figure out solutions themselves. Carbon taxes, emissions trading, and innovation prizes work because they reward good behavior instead of just punishing bad behavior.
