(Bloomberg Opinion) — Some constituents of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez actually got something out of politics this year beside a barrage of campaign advertisements: With a sliver of the almost $19 million that she raised on her glide to re-election, AOC bought and gave away 200 Thanksgiving turkeys.
Turkeys are reminiscent of New York’s Tammany Hall, which used to deliver birds, along with coal and other useful things, to Democratic constituents. Much of AOC’s New York City district is poor. If government is hobbled, and mediating institutions like political parties and unions (another traditional source of holiday turkeys) are diminished, constituent needs go unmet. That’s both challenge and opportunity.
“The Congresswoman believes that when a larger federal response fails, as it has with Covid-19, we have a responsibility to think creatively about what we can do with others in our community to meet the needs of our constituents,” said Ocasio-Cortez campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt in an email. Hitt said AOC campaign volunteers and donors made 200,000 community check-in calls, delivered 80,000 meals, distributed 100,000 masks and recruited more than 11,000 tutors for students in remote learning.
The results of a decades-long conservative campaign to destroy the efficacy of government, and to undermine voters’ faith in it, are now painfully evident. The politics of the 21st century has consisted, to a substantial degree, of a series of Republican mega-failures — Iraq, Katrina, financial crisis, Donald Trump, Covid-19. Yet consequences have been severed from performance; voters have repeatedly stuck with the party. Democrats have held full control of the federal government for only two years this century.
Polarization has been devastating to U.S. governance but a financial boon to U.S. campaigns. Democrats spent tens of millions of dollars on losing campaigns this year. Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot, raised an absurd $94 million in her run for Senate in Kentucky, most of it thanks to Democratic rage at her opponent: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Defeats don’t necessarily mean all the money is wasted; some campaigns produce positive after effects. But what if a portion of that money had gone to the equivalent of turkeys and coal instead? What if Democrats, as a party, provided fewer television advertisements and more health care — delivered directly to struggling constituents?
As long as Republicans retain the power to obstruct, the capacity to use government to improve outcomes is limited. But the capacity to use a party is not. ActBlue, the Democratic donor website, raised more than $4 billion this election cycle. If 1% of that sum were redirected to high-profile, politically salient constituent projects, Democrats would have $40 million to work with. That’s $40 million — potentially far more when combined with local donors — to ease cynicism, build trust, nurture loyalty, deliver services. (It wouldn’t be a crime if a disproportionate number of beneficiaries were in swing counties.)
AOC delivered turkeys (and more) this year, like a ward boss of the past. It may be time for Democrats to try some new — or very old — tactics to reconnect citizens to party politics.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Francis Wilkinson writes about U.S. politics and domestic policy for Bloomberg Opinion. He was previously executive editor of the Week, a writer for Rolling Stone, a communications consultant and a political media strategist.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
