All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world, but they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referring to the Squad

There is a battle for control of the Democratic Party – or its soul – between the old leadership, Nancy Pelosi (77), Steny Hoyer (78), and Jim Clyburn (77) among others, and a combination of young progressives that includes The Squad. I should probably start with a disclaimer, I am on the side of the young progressives and, especially, the four women of The Squad (in the picture above starting from the left, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez known as AOC, and Rashida Tlaib). They are young, strong, loud, and damned smart; and I think they are the best thing that has happened to the Democrats in years. They are also minorities, Puerto Rician, Black, Muslim; women who have traditionally lived on the margins, with a long history of being powerless, coming from areas that are chronically underserved. As an aside, I think that the incubator of being minority women and marginalized is somehow important to their superpowers. The same goes for Emma González and Greta Thunberg. These young women – and there are others – are staggeringly self-aware and self-confident. End aside.

I’m always happy to see a complementary Editorial on them (especially in the NYT, who has not been especially complementary to them). This Editorial, by Barbara Ransby, postulates that “The Squad” Is the Future of the Democratic Party and she starts her argument with:

Representative Ayanna Pressley broke with traditional diversity politics last month when she said at a conference in Philadelphia, “we don’t need black faces that don’t want to be a black voice.” Instead, “we need you to represent that voice.”

The members of the so-called squad who were also on the panel nodded in agreement. They are the defiant and unapologetic voices of the communities that produced them. Since being elected last fall, these four progressive Democratic congresswomen have pushed the limits of what most liberals mean by the contested term “diversity. ”

When Nancy Pelosi made the statement quoted at the top, the house had just had a vote in which the majority of the House voted yes as told, and these four women, along with a few others, voted no. But the Speaker is wrong and out of touch, these four women are speaking for their constituents and that is their strength. AOC’s Tweet: I’m not running from the left. I’m running from the bottom. says it all. Somewhat surprisingly to me, those issues are almost the same as mine. When asked what was the highest thing on their list, the biggest problem, the answer all four gave was “Global Climate Change”. Of course! They are young, they are probably not going to skate through the apocalypse like Nancy Pelosi and I most likely will, they will live their life in a changing world that is deteriorating in many ways. But, even more germane, they think Climate Change is the biggest issue because their constituents are worried, they are already being hit. Not surprisingly, their issues are closer to the average Democrat than Pelosi. Contrary to the Speaker’s statement they are much louder than four votes. I recommend that you give the Editorial a quick read.