Alexandria Octavio-Cortez (28) is the current darling of the left and a media sensation after a stunning primary upset over Joe Crowley (56) who represented NY’s 14^th congressional district for 20 years. Then, in the general election, she easily bested Republican Anthony Pappas, a lackluster professor of economics at St. John’s University. The artfully constructed district represents portions of Queens and the Bronx, where Alexandria was born and raised.

She is young, attractive, articulate and smart (B.S. Brown Univ.).  She is also a proud socialist.

It’s easy to understand why Alexandria leans toward socialism (the only course taught at Brown). What’s less clear is why the people of the 14^th found her espoused policies so appealing. She garnered 78% of the votes cast. Demographics and Pappas’s inept communication skills explain part of the reason, but there is a more incipient movement afoot worldwide, not just in NY’s 14^th. The demographics of the 14^th (shown below), give a clue, and a heads-up, to careful observers.

For centuries, the world has suffered divisions – Chasms across which détente, much less agreement, has proven elusive if not impossible: Religions, Tribal rivalries, Economic disparity, Race and recently, Politics, are all flashpoints. More often than reason would dictate, these chasms have led to wars, insurrections and/or inviolable borders between differing factions. Take another look at the above table: All those factors are represented – and sizzling at a slow boil.

It occurred to me, while reading the Wall Street Journal this week, that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s victory was a sign post that whole uncoordinated segments of our ‘Not-so-United States’ are shouting at one another across several of these immutable chasms. The political class has lost control. Decent people with deeply held beliefs are choosing sides, purchasing weapons and building walls. I am reasonably sure that the fine folks voting in the South Bronx are not concerned about the topics covered by the WSJ: trade wars with with China, rising interest rates on loans to big banks, Brexit, the war in Yemen, the price of crude oil. But 50% of those folks have relatives in Mexico and/or Latin America. They also believe the government should solve all of their problems and address all of their needs.  That 50% was enough for AOC to win big-time.

Someone smarter than me once opined that ‘one spark is unlikely to cause a fire, but the confluence of several can launch a maelstrom’. Imagine one lightning strike in a dry-tinder forest and you have a California disaster of epic proportions; or witness the riots in France. There, Giléts Jaunes are on the verge of taking down the government – to a naïve President Macron’s amazement over a proposed eco-tax on Diesel.  The French economy is threatened, as is Britain’s, due to Parliament’s screwed up approach to Brexit. Germany and the Scandinavians are overwhelmed by illiterate immigrants demanding asylum and threatening the same chaos they left behind. Then there is Greece and Italy — but let’s not get carried away. At least they have great olive oil and wine.

People all over the world (below the radar) are making more choices, not necessarily informed choices, augmented by social media, and so-called leaders are clueless about how to deal with them.

After Octavio–Cortez’s win, Speaker Nancy Pelosi also quipped: “Let’s not get carried away. They made a choice in one district.”

So beware, Nancy, the first spark has sputtered and it has a name: Alexandria Octavio-Cortez.  Leaders like you, Trump, Macron, el Sisi and others would do well to recognize it and to recall the refrain of La Marseillaise.

Aux armes, citoyens !
Formez vos bataillons !
Marchons ! Marchons !
Qu’un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !

Or, for you non-Francophiles:

Grab your weapons, citizens!
Form your battalions!
Let us march! Let us march!
May impure blood
Water our fields!

We have now elevated an avowed Socialist and a Muslim activist to the halls of our Congress, I think of the words of another icon: “God bless us, every one!”  Dickens repeats that phrase at the end of his allegory signifying Scrooge’s change of heart towards Tiny Tim and Christmas.

May, that we also have the courage to see the light, resist the bad and encourage the good through enlightened leaders.

We can only hope!

You are welcome.

For more, go to: jameshpyle.com