One of the most depressing things about the debate over tactics this week has been how the people ceaselessly berating AOC seem to have no interest whatsoever in what it will take to actually build support for Medicare for All at the district level. https://twitter.com/AdyBarkan/status/1340116089095606272

There is no moonshot tactic that can compensate for a huge imbalance in political power.

Regardless of whether the Squad pursues a scorched Earth strategy against Democratic leadership, we don't currently have the votes for Medicare for All. I think even proponents of the floor vote idea admit this.

Changing that balance of power will take a lot of hard work at the local/Congressional district level organizing, building coalitions, and in some cases launching primary challenges. The kind of work Ady describes in his thread.

But something tells me that people like Dore won't ever call for that work—and wouldn't even if AOC and the Squad did his bidding. As @BenjaminPDixon said, it's easier to get subscribers, views, and $ exploiting people's anger and disillusionment and attacking a popular figure.

What's most depressing about this protracted meltdown is that it reveals a broad assumption among many online leftists that individual politicians could save us if they only tried hard enough, and that twitter bullying is organizing.

This is not to say that leaders shouldn't ever be challenged, or that progressive institutions don't ever fall short. They do. But that doesn't make it remotely constructive to tear down the most important politician to emerge on the left in the last five years—and the sole MoC

brave enough to oppose the CARES Act.

@AOC has shown time and again she has principle and courage. The fact that she can't single-handedly change the balance of power in Congress is not an indictment of her, but a reflection of how much work we have to do collectively.