Liberals claim to be in favor of democracy–or, at least, Our Democracy™️–but if someone actually runs against them, they take it as a personal offense. Consider this tweet by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom I take as a good exemplar of contemporary liberalism:
People everywhere need to understand how disgusting and abnormal it is for special interests to dump nearly $15 million to unseat a member of Congress in a primary.
This is corruption. It is a core threat to American democracy. It also fuels Trump.
Support Jamaal Bowman. https://t.co/HAWJjKICr7
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 16, 2024
There is nothing shocking about $15 million being spent on a Congressional race. In the 2022 cycle, a number of House races drew more than $40 million in total spending. And Ocasio-Cortez herself knows how to spend money: she spent $18.9 million on her own 2020 House race.
So what is going on here? Maybe AOC is offended because the money is being spent on a Democratic primary–someone had the temerity not only to challenge a sitting Democrat House member, but to actually raise money in support of that challenge. But AOC certainly isn’t opposed to primary challenges; she gained her Congressional seat by winning a primary as an insurgent challenger against longtime Democratic Representative Joe Crowley.
So what is the problem? AOC says that support for George Latimer is “disgusting,” “abnormal,” “corruption” and “a core threat to American democracy.” Strong words, but why? The only explanation she gives is that contributions have come from “special interests.” That is a phrase with no precise definition; it is often used to mean any interest opposed to one’s own, or, slightly more precisely, people or groups who have a financial interest in an issue before the government.
Is there anything particularly “special” about the groups that have supported George Latimer? Yes, there is. Of the “nearly $15 million” spent by groups on his behalf, the large majority–more than $11 million–comes from a single source, the United Democracy Project. What is the United Democracy Project? It is AIPAC’s super pac. From its web site:
United Democracy Project is an organization comprised of American citizens—Democrats, Republicans and Independents—united in the belief that America’s partnership with our democratic ally Israel benefits both countries. United Democracy Project works to help elect candidates that share our vision and will be strong supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship in Congress.
There you have it. Bowman is something of a nut–he is the guy who pulled a fire alarm to delay a vote on the House floor–and, more to the point here, his attacks on Israel have caused many to consider him an anti-Semite. He voted against the House resolution condemning Hamas’s October 7 atrocities, and termed reports of sexual violence in those attacks “propaganda.” He was within his rights to take those positions, but it is not hard to understand why an organization dedicated to strong relations between the U.S. and Israel would support his opponent.
But AOC doesn’t see it that way. If you support a candidate running against an anti-Israel “Squad” member, you are a “special interest” that is “disgusting,” “abnormal,” representing “corruption” and “a core threat to American democracy.” (And, in the ultimate insult, it “also fuels Trump,” although I am not sure how that follows.) So AOC is virulently anti-Israel, but we knew that already. What this tells us is that she–and, I believe, a great many of her fellow liberals–don’t really believe that those who disagree with them are entitled to participate on an equal footing in the political process. That is, they don’t really believe in democracy.
