AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) had another marvelous media moment, at a House committee hearing. It was just five minutes, and the video of her interaction went viral (see below). She was loose and relaxed, asking the small panel of experts some questions in a hypothetical scenario where AOC said that she would be “the bad guy,” the politician with no moral center who wanted to have the system and profit and exploit the democratic political process. What’s to stop me? she asked.

It was a simple break down of the corruption that is now so normative that we have all accepted it and most don’t seriously question it. Then someone like AOC (or Bernie in 2016) comes along and simply describes it. These kinds of simple descriptions of the problem remind me of the role of the prophet. Often the Prophetic Voice simply states what everyone already knows but that people avoid talking about. Hence a simple description of corruption can be a powerful catalyst for change because it describes our shared social experience of ethical compromise.

In terms of how it works, of how corruption is legal in the U.S., I usually reference this vid, that breaks it all down:

In related news….Elizabeth Warren officially entered the Presidential race, pulling no punches:

“It won’t be enough to just undo the terrible acts of this administration,” Warren said. “We can’t afford to just tinker around the edges – a tax credit here, a regulation there. Our fight is for big, structural change.”

“This is the fight of our lives.,” Warren said. “The fight to build an America where dreams are possible, an America that works for everyone. I am in that fight all the way. And that is why I stand here today: to declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States of America.”

And it will be a fight. People want change but tend to be pretty terrified by the kind of changes that we need to make, such as the Green New Deal. As an example, I came across this vid, today, of some pundits on Fox News laughing at the idea of a Green New Deal: