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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s family has turned down the more than $100,000 raised through GoFundMe to help the congresswoman’s grandmother in Puerto Rico. Their attitude highlights in practice one of the fundamental conceptual flaws of socialism.
In a tweet posted on June 2, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez complained bitterly about the condition of her grandmother’s home in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
After more than a year without visiting her because of the pandemic, and a week after her grandmother had fallen ill, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted photos showing the precariousness of her grandmother’s home and, predictably, AOC blamed Trump for blocking government aid.
Of course, many of her followers appreciated Alexandria’s sentimentality. No wonder. However, others have picked up on the Democrat’s hypocrisy and manipulation, criticizing her for not helping her own grandmother while she drives a Tesla and lives in luxury in New York.
Following Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s publicity stunt, conservative commentator Matt Walsh tried to expose Alexandria’s hypocrisy by organizing a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to help AOC’s poor granny. Within days he raised more than $100,000, which Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s family has been quick to reject.
In the face of overwhelming criticism, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tried to defend herself by explaining that she had indeed helped her grandmother and that she had long since stopped living in the facilities she had previously shown, but that she tweeted it anyway to highlight a systemic problem. In other words, she apparently lied about her own grandmother’s situation to gain pity.
Problems rather than solutions
The reason a socialist like AOC refuses donations and demands that you pay taxes to help the poor is the same reason a junkie panhandler refuses to let you give him food when what he asked you for is “money to eat.”
We are not saying that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or socialists are hooked on psychotropic substances – although that would explain a lot – but that socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are addicted to handling tax money, which is why they encourage government handouts.
The drug addict who begs for alms on the grounds that he is hungry prefers cash rather than food handouts, so he can spend it on his vices. The socialist, supposedly representing the hungry, rejects private charity and demands the payment of taxes, so that he can spend it on perpetuating the system of “redistribution of wealth.” They want the government to be the monopolist of aid to the underprivileged.
When they leave it, civil society organizes on its own to solve problems much more effectively than when the government takes over. That is why socialists despise private charity and pretend to set themselves up as the sole authorized representatives of the poor. Without that consideration, they would be left without the perfect excuse for access to taxpayers’ money.
It is not really a matter of money, but of power. It is not that the socialist wants taxpayers’ money to steal it for their own benefit – although some corrupt politicians do – but that they pretend that the government is the only one managing charity in order to perpetuate themselves in power.
Socialists appear to be the only ones interested in the underprivileged, when their interest in the welfare of the poor is the same as that shown by ticks in the welfare of dogs.
If anything, socialist policies accentuate the problems they claim to fight against, generating millions of people who believe they need socialism to solve those problems. It is a snake biting its own tail in an endless loop of misery. It is like a drunk who eats beer for breakfast to mitigate the hangover of the night before; or like the drug addict who asks for “money to eat” because the drugs – and not him – are to blame for the fact that he is going hungry.
Ignacio Manuel García Medina, Business Management teacher. Artist and lecturer specialized in Popular Culture for various platforms. Presenter of the program "Pop Libertario" for the Juan de Mariana Institute. Lives in the Canary Islands, Spain // Ignacio M. García Medina es profesor de Gestión de Empresas. Es miembro del Instituto Juan de Mariana y conferenciante especializado en Cultura Popular e ideas de la Libertad.
Social Networks: @ignaciomgm