I believe this is what sets Bernie and AOC apart from most who now hold national positions with Democratic support [View all]

[Tom Rinaldo]

In a nut shell it's their explicit condemnation of rampant greed in America, and how that greed coupled with concentrated power is rapidly destroying the chance for most Americans to live decent lives. Note, I didn't say that they stand out from all elected Democrats in that regard, just from most. Further, I fully acknowledge that virtually all elected Democrats share a strong concern for the economic well being of both working and middle class Americans, and that their votes typically reflect those concerns.

What stands out for me about Bernie and AOC in particular, though, is their focus on the long term big picture, and their utter lack of moral ambiguity in regards to economic inequality. They are unafraid to call it blatant wholesale thievery by the top 1% of Americans at the expense of the bottom 90%, who increasingly must struggle to get by.

I'm going to use a photography metaphor here, and reference needing to choose which details constitute the foreground, and which the background, in the composition of a picture. Our side of the aisle, broadly speaking, pretty much agree on what the picture of America today encompasses, It's in the focus that differences emerge. Exposing and opposing greed is in the foreground of Bernie and AOC's messaging, it's not relegated to some corner in the background. In the finest tradition of the American Labor movement. they don't hesitate to loudly call out, "Whose side are you on?" They aren't cowered by the fear that they'll be called out for being "anti-business", because they stress the abject immorality inherent in allowing three hyper rich Americans to control more wealth than the bottom half of all our citizens combined. They do not shy away from emphasizing the obscene aspect of "obscene wealth."

Far too often I've heard leading Democrats go out of their way to assure the public at large that Democrats have no quarrel with anyone accumulating unlimited wealth, so long as they pay "their fair share" of taxes - defined for the most part as a fixed percentage of earned income, a percentage that has shrunken considerably since Reagan's "Revolution." Wanting to avoid being seen as "embracing class warfare" too easily results in unilateral rhetorical disarmament.

Most Americans are getting a very raw deal under this oligarchy, and virtually all of them know it. They aren't always as clear though on who is to blame. But Bernie and AOC leave little doubt on that. They paint our common enemies in bold colors and painstaking detail. They keep it front and center. And it isn't just Donald Trump and Elon Musk and whatever Republicans happen to be in office at the moment. The Gilded Age of a century past never ended in the dreams and aspirations of the amoral heirs of that prior oligarchy. Their continued greed increasingly bleeds vitality from the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans today.

Frankly, I'm mot surprised that Bernie and AOC's "Fight Oligarchy' campaign is resonating so strongly in parts of our nation no one would confuse with being solidly blue, that instead were purple or even red in the 2024 election. They are not mincing words. They are naming names and assigning blame. Bernie and AOC's straight forward indictment of greed at the expense of human needs, is breaking through.