What we’re talking about this time
She could become the first woman president in American history, yet a Chinese person who grew up receiving a socialist education saw straight through the “socialist” (Socialism) undertone in her policies: after decades of America’s failed “peaceful evolution,” could it end up undergoing a “reverse evolution” of its own and joining the socialist family?
This time, we’re taking a deep dive into Democratic congresswoman AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), whose popularity has exploded, breaking down one by one the four core policies championed by her “mentor,” Bernie Sanders: wealth redistribution (a 70% tax on the rich), Medicare for All, free college (College for All Act), and the Green New Deal. Just how much do they share with socialist and communist ideas? Going a step further, we have to ask: from the Democratic Party in the United States and Britain’s Labour Party (the Corbyn era) to Germany’s Social Democrats and the Nordic model, why is the entire Western left collectively “shifting left”? Why are even young people in the “beacon of capitalism” beginning to yearn for the “socialism” once seen as a scourge?
Highlights
“Socialism with American characteristics” — comparing AOC’s four policies one by one, and seeing how she dispenses remedy after remedy for “common prosperity” within a capitalist framework.
It’s not just AOC. From the US and UK to Germany and the Nordic countries, the map of Western politics is being redrawn — the leftward and rightward shifts are accelerating at the same time.
Why are young people “looking left”? Four deep-rooted reasons: anxiety about their wallets, anger at the elites (the 2008 financial crisis), the rupture of Cold War memories, and a shift toward the value system of “once your belly is full, think about justice.”
Jump to a section
- 00:00 Is AOC a “communist successor”? Opening question
- 00:47 2028 presidential prediction: second only to Harris in approval, and possibly America’s first woman president
- 01:20 An absurd thought: could America undergo a “reverse peaceful evolution”?
- 02:00 Position 1 · Economic equality and wealth redistribution
- 03:19 A 70% marginal tax rate on multimillion-dollar incomes — the most radical proposal since Reagan’s tax cuts
- 05:00 Position 2 · Medicare for All: “Healthcare is a basic human right”
- 06:21 Position 3 · Educational equality: free college and canceling 1.6 trillion in student loans
- 07:54 Position 4 · The Green New Deal
- 09:29 Expanding the lens: Britain, Germany, and the Nordic countries — the Western left’s collective “shift left”
- 13:00 Deep dive · Why do young people yearn for socialism? ◉ Economic pressure and insecurity
- 14:42 ◉ Rising inequality and anger at the elites (the 2008 financial crisis)
- 16:24 ◉ The rupture of intergenerational memory: they never experienced the Cold War
- 17:41 ◉ Changing values: from “once your belly is full, think about sex” to “once your belly is full, think about justice”
- 19:21 Back to the beginning: is AOC really a “successor”?
- 20:35 Ending · What do you think? Leave a comment and discuss
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