“The shock win of 28 year old socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be a wake-up call. Because, whilst the Right was feeling smart watching the Ben Shapiro Show, the Left—the real Left that is, not the confused Democratic establishment—has been living through the most dramatic policy renaissance in decades. (Hint: it has nothing to do with bathrooms.) Not only is a populist policy platform coming together, but the Left has increasingly found the persuasive policy wonks—and the campaigners like the Democratic Socialists of America—to exert real influence among the ranks of the Democrats. Whoever ends up running, a “Federal Jobs Guarantee” is the big idea already set to dominate the Democratic primaries in 2020. This simple idea would see the government guarantee a job to the 13.1 million Americans who are currently unemployed or underemployed. The go-to report on the topic, from the Center on Budget Policy Priorities, suggests a “guaranteed wage” would go with each one of these jobs, to the tune of $32,500. The program would cost $543 billion a year, but the authors suggest a significant chunk of the cost—over $220 billion—is in fact already being spent on public assistance programs that could be nearly eliminated. For the Democrats, the like of which Ocasio-Cortez beat in the biggest primary upset of the year, a “Jobs Guarantee” would be new ideas enough. How are you going to pay for that? The emerging Left has an answer: by revolutionizing how we think about government spending.”
— The Right’s Straw Left
