Last month, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) introduced new rules intended to stymie electoral challenges from the left. The group announced that it would no longer give any work to consultants, pollsters, and other political professionals who lend their efforts to progressives and democratic socialist candidates seeking to depose Democratic Party incumbents, as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did last summer when she unseated establishment Democrat Joe Crowley.
Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including Ocasio-Cortez, are right to speak out against these measures, which are designed to weaken the Left. Since the left wing is already weaker, forcing professionals to choose between the Left and center means they're likely to gravitate to the center to protect their own careers, starving the left wing of resources and expertise. The move is an attempt to leverage the self-interest of the professional political class against a political movement that threatens corporate profits and centrist dominance, which are extensively entangled.
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