AOC's Speech at NY Rally with Federal Workers

I think that AOC is one of the rising stars of politics. Not one of the rising stars of either party, but of the political sphere in general. Here is the evidence: She came from waiting tables in a bar to being a Representative in Congress against the political machine that was in place. She hasn't caved to the leadership of either party, she seems to want what is good for her constituency, and is standing up for all for Americans en-masse.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

Transcript: 

Are you all ready for this fight?

Yeah? You all ready to lock in?

We are not giving up this country without a fight—isn’t that right? We will not give up on our people, the institutions, the programs, and the services that help people live their lives without a fight.

So if they want us to go down, they should know we are not going down without the biggest fight they have ever seen.

I want you all to know that we have a plan and that we need one another in this moment. This moment is bigger than any one of us. This moment takes all of us—but we will win.

We will win.

These folks—Elon Musk and whatever group of corrupt people he's got coming in here looting Social Security, looting our federal programs—we had countless more people laid off unjustly this weekend.

How many of you know someone that’s been affected by this?

People need to understand that federal workers do work—work that is part of the lifeblood of our society.

• National Park Service workers
• National Forest Service workers
• Everyday working people

Sometimes, the only vacation families can afford to take their kids on is to our national public lands, our national public parks and services. And it’s those people—those workers—who folks like Elon Musk are laying off.

He's not just hurting the workers. He’s hurting the millions of Americans who rely on everything from Medicaid to public parks to have any semblance of dignity in their lives.

That’s what he’s stripping away. That’s what he’s trying to take away.

Don’t let anyone take the focus off of what is happening right in this present moment.

Elon Musk is not going after efficiency. He’s not trying to make these things better for people.

He is trying to steal Medicaid so that he can enrich himself.
He is trying to steal and gut NASA to align his pockets with SpaceX.
He is trying to gut everything that is good in America for his own private profit.

This is the culmination of what oligarchy is all about and what oligarchy seeks to do. It is the fusion of, and the capture by, the billionaire class of our democracy. That’s what they’re trying to do.

But it is very important to understand that it is not sustainable.

They may seem powerful right now, but all of this dramatic action is designed to create a sense of inevitability—a sense of power—so that we abdicate in advance.

A Message to Federal Workers

I want everyone who is here—and folks who are watching—especially our federal workers, to listen to me very carefully, because we have very specific instructions in this moment.

And I don’t say this as a Democrat.
I don’t say this as a person with any specific political views in this moment.
I say this as an American who has sworn an oath to the United States Constitution—as someone who cares about this country.

We have an obligation to resist kings.
We have an obligation to resist oligarchs.
We have a sworn duty to this nation to resist oligarchy—including any billionaire that tries to undermine our Constitution.

America is not for sale.

They are only as powerful as we consent to believe them to be.

So when we are sitting down, and they try to storm these offices and dismiss people, the key here is: Make them.

• Don’t agree in advance.
• Don’t go quietly.
• Don’t make it easy.
• Make them do it.

And there are specific ways that we all can do it.

Document it.
If they want to do something, make them put it in an email.

And I say this very intentionally because we will work in the streets, in the courts, in public opinion, in our art—everywhere we can—to overwhelm them.

We outnumber them.

Understand our power in this moment.
Don’t give up our power.
Don’t shy away from our power.

Every small action matters.

They want us to give in to this idea of meaninglessness.
They want us to be seduced by nihilism.
They want us to be cowed by cynicism.

Don’t let them.

• Every action matters.
• Every five minutes you stall matters.
• Every email you send, forcing that little extra layer to ensure that they comply with the law, matters.

Because you have to understand we are working in tandem.

A Real Example: Resisting Oligarchy in Action

Two weeks ago, I was in Washington, D.C., and I got word that the DOJ team was trying to infiltrate the Department of Labor.

They were going to come in and intimidate nonpartisan federal workers into handing over some of the most sensitive labor data in the department.

If those numbers get compromised:

• Our jobs report becomes harder to believe.
• U.S. economic data becomes less reliable.

This is highly consequential.

We had heard that the DOJ team was going in at 4:00 p.m. that day.

So I said, here’s one thing I can do—we can remind our federal workers of their legal obligations under the law.

So I drafted a letter.
I marched over to the Department of Labor.
I went inside—without anyone knowing—and I dropped it off to the exact people who were about to be pressured.

And I asked:
"Can I get your commitment that you will do your best to comply with the law?"

They said, "Yes."

That meeting was scheduled for 4:00 p.m..
I walked through those doors at 3:30 p.m., before it all started.

We stalled them.
We got a court injunction.

Every step of the way, someone could have said,
"Oh, the letter doesn’t matter."
"Oh, taking that step doesn’t matter."

But it did matter.

This is how we resist.

Final Call to Action

Understand that there are millions of us working at the same time.

We are in the business of creating conditions.
There is no one act that will save us—it will be constant pressure that saves our democracy.

They cannot withstand constant, consistent pressure.
They will crumble under it.

Every day, our job is to wake up and ask: What can I do today?

There is no act too small to matter.

• When they try to come in, make them show a warrant.
• When they try to take control, make them show a document.
• When they assert their authority, ask them: Who are you?

Because at the end of the day, they are no one.
They are just like you and me.

And just because Elon Musk has a bank account with a lot of zeros in it does not make him a super-citizen.

This is America.

Being here matters.
The constant pressure matters.

We will resist.
We will prevail.
We outnumber them.

They cannot sustain.
And we cannot give up.

Thank you, everyone. Let’s keep pushing.