Forget J W-R. What If We Had an AOC in Government?

She's something of a darling to Canadian progressives. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the brash young woman out to shake up the moribund Democrats and take down Trump and his Repugs.

She's out for social justice and the environment, yes the environment, and in a big way.

Imagine, she's at the podium addressing an overflow audience. Beside her at the head table sits Justin Trudeau and the Liberal front bench. AOC begins to speak, an address that could as easily be given in Canada as it was in the States.

Ocasio-Cortez came out strongly against moderates, expressing disbelief that it is often talked about as a desirable quality in politicians. “Moderate is not a stance. It’s just an attitude towards life of, like, ‘meh’,” she said as she shrugged her shoulders and the audience cheered. “We’ve become so cynical, that we view ‘meh,’ or ‘eh’—we view cynicism as an intellectually superior attitude, and we view ambition as youthful naivete when we think about the greatest things we have ever accomplished as a society have been ambitious acts of visions,” she said. Ocasio-Cortez went on: “And the ‘meh’ is like worshipped now for what? Like, for what?” The audience cheered again.

That's what we have, a "meh" government. Inequality - "meh." The environment - "meh." Electoral reform - "meh." All things Progressive - "meh." Acts of vision - "meh, we got no time for that."

The "meh" government, whose claim to fame is that they're not as bad as that other guy there, "Chuckles."

I'm not sure that AOC would last very long inside Justin Trudeau's caucus. A week, a month, tops. Besides, where would she park the Green New Deal? That's even too ambitious for the New Dems.

If you want to check whether your favourite prime minister measures up to the Green New Deal, here's a backgrounder that might help.