Ocasio-Cortez Was Not at Davos, and That Means More Than You Think

This week we may have passed a cultural milestone.

This was a week when the world鈥檚 richest and most powerful gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss how to make the world better. As a confab of the elite, Davos has come to symbolize the persistence of a particularly extreme form of capitalism. No one there among the presidents, prime ministers, and billionaires is seriously looking at upending the system that lifts them ever higher while dropping the have-nots ever lower.

But while the Davos set gabs about global poverty, Financial Times commentator Edward Luce points out on the Deep State Radio podcast, . They are certain they can save the world and maintain their exalted position in it.

The scene is divorced from reality as most Americans experience it. This is all happening during a federal government shutdown now extending into its second month that has made 800,000 federal workers go without pay, plus another 1.2 million contractors who not only aren鈥檛 being paid, but won鈥檛 receive back pay when the shutdown ends. (As of Friday, Jan. 25, there was a tentative agreement to reopen the government for three weeks so a budget could be negotiated.)

Trump administration officials told them to just suck it up, with 聽admitting to CNBC he didn鈥檛 know why federal employees were going to food banks when they could just take out loans.

But something else was unfolding at the same time, something even more symbolic. A new crop of progressive congressional representatives arrived in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. Getting the most press among the newbies is 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bronx-born, Twitter-native, and worm in the heads of right wing pundits. She made waves calling for a Green New Deal, proposing a top 聽to pay for it, and, last week, marched in the second anniversary Women鈥檚 March, worked to end the federal shutdown, and called in to a 57-hour livestreamed .

That鈥檚 Donkey Kong, the Nintendo video game from the 鈥�80s. The online game was organized as a fundraiser for Mermaids, a U.K. charity that supports trans youth. It was run by Harry Brewis, known online as 鈥淗bomberguy鈥� and for a series of 鈥淢easured Response鈥� videos in which he calmly . Brewis ended up raising about $340,000 for the charity.

Most remarkable about the event鈥攂esides a congressional representative showing up鈥攊s that the video game community has long been seen as a refuge of misogynistic, right-wing 鈥�GamerGate鈥� types. That some people are turning that around and opting for inclusion is a sign of culture shift and progress.

The worlds of Davos and Donkey Kong could not be farther apart. There鈥檚 the obvious: the world鈥檚 wealthiest assembled in one resort location to save the world for capitalists, and a group of gamers raising money for a cause that benefits a marginalized community.

What resonates with people more today: a 70 percent top marginal tax rate (which was the average top rate from the 1930s through the 1960s) or the status quo in which ordinary people have a higher tax burden than the superrich? Who鈥檚 more in tune with the world right now, Michael Dell () or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who famously couldn鈥檛 afford a second home in Washington, D.C., until she started receiving her congressional paychecks?

Here鈥檚 a hint: One poll put at nearly 60 percent, and even 45 percent of Republicans were in support of it, according to CNBC.

Every once in a while, one of our leaders seems so in tune with the times that they become legends. Think Franklin Roosevelt intoning that 鈥渢he only thing we have to fear is fear itself鈥� to rally a nation in the depths of the Great Depression, or John F. Kennedy calling the country to service: 鈥淎sk not what your country can do for you 鈥�.鈥� Even Donald Trump鈥檚 revanchist 鈥淢ake America Great Again鈥� resonated with a large number of people, marking a significant cultural moment in American life鈥攐ne that we hope will go down in infamy.

When these moments have passed into history, the words linger as a shorthand version for cultural turning points that were in reality more complex, nuanced, and hard-won.

We may be in the next such moment right now, although we haven鈥檛 had a pithy quote yet to encapsulate it. (I hope it doesn鈥檛 turn out to be Wilbur Ross鈥� 鈥渓et them eat cake鈥� gaffe.) Maybe Ocasio-Cortez will become the one to deliver that cultural marker, maybe it will come from someone else. But all the trends are pointing to a shift in collective consciousness.

The Rosses, Dells, and other superrich and superpowerful went to Davos because that鈥檚 where their people are, the community they care about, where they could be assured of hobnobbing with their fellow plutocrats. Likewise, Ocasio-Cortez went to her people where they were, where the price for entry into the club wasn鈥檛 a nine-figure bank account, but the desire to welcome and lift up one another.

Ocasio-Cortez鈥檚 people also wonder if the world can support billionaires, and why anyone should have a billion dollars to begin with. Like the idea of bringing back a 70 percent marginal tax rate, they are questions that are getting asked more often. When enough people ask those questions, that鈥檚 a turning point.

Chris Winters is a senior editor at 大象传媒, where he specializes in covering democracy and the economy. Chris has been a journalist for more than 20 years, writing for newspapers and magazines in the Seattle area. He鈥檚 covered everything from city council meetings to natural disasters, local to national news, and won numerous awards for his work. He is based in Seattle, and speaks English and Hungarian.

Reprints and reposts: 大象传媒 Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps.

Republish This