Bernie and AOC aren't revolutionaries—they're relief valves. Their supporters already grasp society's deep injustices: crushing inequality, environmental catastrophe, and skyrocketing living costs. Bernie and AOC don't awaken people to these realities; they offer just enough hope to keep frustration safely within electoral channels, ensuring that anger remains manageable and contained within the very system responsible for these problems.
Yet beneath this thin veil of optimism lies a critical question often avoided: do Bernie and AOC actually fight for their stated ideals? And if so, how? The answers affirm my skepticism, and even disdain.
I openly question their commitment. How can you claim anti-war values yet continually back U.S. proxy wars abroad—including explicit support for Ukraine, escalating tensions with China and providing quite a lot of a cover for the genocidal actions of Israel? How can you be anti-ICE and pro-immigration yet endorse candidates who've tried to outflank Trump to the right on border security, such as Joe Biden, who has overseen record-high deportations?
Despite their supposed anti-war stance, Bernie and AOC consistently embrace hawkish military spending and regime-change rhetoric. Remember AOC tearfully voting "present" on Iron Dome funding rather than clearly opposing it—a symbolic gesture revealing a fundamental unwillingness to stand by her stated values. Recall her again voting "present" in 2021 for increased police funding, and her backing of Trump's bloated military budget in 2019, one of the largest Pentagon budgets in history. Bernie openly supported U.S. military deployments to Taiwan, has repeatedly advocated for escalations in Ukraine, and historically endorsed bombings in Iraq and NATO airstrikes in Yugoslavia. This militarism directly contradicts their stated climate concerns, as the military remains among the largest global polluters, accounting for 75% of all U.S. government emissions.
Bernie refuses even to call Israel’s ongoing devastation of Gaza a genocide, recently sitting silently as Palestinian supporters were forcibly removed from his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour simply for displaying a Free Palestine flag. No acknowledgment, no solidarity—just complicit silence.
Consider AOC praising Kamala Harris for supposedly "working tirelessly to secure a cease-fire in Gaza." Was she knowingly lying, or simply parroting propaganda fed by the Biden administration? Dropsite’s recent bombshell report explicitly showed Biden never advocated for a ceasefire with Israel.
“God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period… We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’ It never did. And that’s not to be taken for granted.”
— Former Israeli ambassador Michael Herzog:
This crystallizes the controlled opposition argument: whether Bernie and AOC are knowing accomplices or naive pawns hardly matters. During Bernie's presidential bids, both he and AOC refused to leverage their massive followings to win meaningful policy concessions after the Democrats rigged the 2020 primary. Instead, they consistently praised Democratic leadership despite gaining nothing concrete in return. AOC notably thanked Harris and Walz for their "vision," and commended Joe Biden for his "leadership" despite their repeated betrayals of progressive promises. Obsessed with civility and "stopping fascism," they've become sheepdogs herding radicals back into the Democratic establishment.
How are Bernie and AOC fighting for democratic socialism if they continually genuflect to the establishment they're supposedly seeking to transform? What's the use of revolutionary rhetoric if it merely props up the powerful? Why does it matter that they’re the "furthest left in power" if they fail to instigate meaningful change within or outside established institutions? Bernie once said he didn't want to be commander-in-chief but organizer-in-chief—he doesn’t need a presidency to do that. So why isn't he organizing strikes, supporting grassroots unions, or advocating militant collective action?
The issue is democratic socialism—the idea that the electoral process is the arena by which change occurs. That we can vote our way into liberation, or even minor social democratic reforms. History shows no socialist project has succeeded purely through elections. Allende’s Chile tragically highlights electoral socialism's vulnerability, crushed by U.S.-backed coup for the fascist Pinochet. Domestically, meaningful progressive reforms—such as civil rights, labor laws, and women's suffrage—have always emerged through collective struggle, not merely voting.
The "Fighting Oligarchy" tour largely reiterates anti-Trump sentiment while promoting a fantasy Democratic Party that doesn't exist. This illusion is clearly exposed by the establishment’s recent rejection of David Hogg's initiative to primary conservative Democrats and the party leadership actively suppressing progressive challengers at every turn. Bernie explicitly frames these rallies as electoral pressure rather than genuine grassroots organizing:
"For those asking, yes these [rallies] are tied to action. All have been in or near GOP-held swing districts and we are following up with specific actions to pressure their Member to vote NO on any Medicaid cuts or billionaire tax breaks – or else face electoral consequences."
But materially, what does this "action" entail? Calling representatives? Voting harder next cycle? There’s no encouragement of general strikes, tenant unionization, or militant direct action—just electoralism.
Ultimately, Bernie and AOC cause more harm than good. They suppress revolutionary energy, directing it back into sustaining a fundamentally capitalist Democratic Party. They wear radical slogans like a costume, caving to establishment demands at every critical moment and betraying the very ideals that earned them electoral victories.
Most fundamentally, their vision isn't socialism—it's capitalism softened by stronger social safety nets. While these improvements can indeed benefit workers materially, under capitalism welfare primarily serves to pacify dissent and preserve the core issue: private ownership of production. Progressive reforms without revolutionary consciousness only guarantee socialism remains a distant dream.
Reject controlled opposition. Real change happens through militant grassroots organizing, workplace solidarity, tenant strikes, and collective action—far beyond the ballot box.