1/ I feel SO aligned with how @Ocasio2018 operates. Why is her voice so resonant? I'd say it boils down to two unique qualities: Systems thinking & honesty. Despite being rare in politics, these qualities can be cultivated by anyone who wants to be more like AOC.
2/ We all wish the world were simple. Most people seek simplicity by just going into denial and ignoring all the complexity. Trying to solve problems in this way fails, because the world is actually a complex set of interconnected systems.
3/ For example, the oversimplified understanding of how to address racial injustice might focus on one or two issues, such as voting rights, criminal justice reform, etc. It's easy to achieve one simple victory and celebrate progress.
4/ But with 1000 problems causing racial injustice, you won't move the needle w/o addressing many of them at once. Most policymakers feel that trying to tackle so many problems at once is just too complex. So our search for simple solutions allows our biggest problems to persist.
5/ In contrast, systems thinkers find simplicity in an unintuitive way: By embracing the complexity of the world. If you want a simple solution, don't falsely assume there's one simple problem. Instead, start with the assumption that there are many complex problems.
6/ To illustrate this, imagine politics as a war. Most politicians arrive in DC and see 1000 different battles being fought on different battlefields. They choose a few battles that are important to them, and where they think they can win. They focus on fighting these battles.
7/ Systems thinkers see the battles, but they view them through the lens of the war, and focus instead on the big picture. They seek to understand how different battles are connected. This reveals strategic leverage points.
8/ AOC's background has given her a great understanding of battlefields such as economic inequality, racial justice, etc. Her decision to run for office was catalyzed at Standing Rock (a literal battlefield for the environmental movement).
9/ Almost any other politician with this background would focus on securing some achievable wins on a few battlefields such as these, but AOC does not. Systems thinkers see intersectionality everywhere they look. She sees that these battlefields are just the same war.
10/ She sees that you cannot truly achieve racial justice in the Bronx without paying attention to the pipeline protests in Standing Rock. Not everyone is willing or able to connect those dots. But real problem-solvers step up to the challenge.
11/ In the words of John Muir: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
12/ When viewing the current landscape of progressive battlefields, and the connections between them, the wise leader will look for the major nodes that connect different battles together. When that's what you look for, what you find is the climate crisis.
13/ I have previously written about why the climate crisis is the combination of all other issues. It encompasses civil rights, foreign policy, health, the economy, war, food, jobs, human rights, crime rates, housing, terrorism, immigration, and much more. medium.com/@schulkin/we-s…
14/ Here is AOC explaining in her own words why she views matters of justice as so intertwined with the climate crisis.
15/ As a climate activist I've been frustrated by politicians who look at the climate issue and only see another battlefield, like any other. But it's not a battlefield. It's the war that encompasses everything else.
16/ We are facing a single planetary crisis, which can only be understood and solved by understanding the interconnections between ecology, capitalism, social justice, and a thousand other issues.
17/ @vanjones68 tried to advance this sort of systems thinking 10 years ago, and now AOC is finding more success, thanks in no small part to a decade of work by climate activists to increase public understanding of the intersectionality at play around climate justice.
18/ There are strategic reasons why focusing on climate makes political sense (merging the power of many different battlefields into a unified force). But what really makes me feel it in my heart is that focusing on climate is the *honest* thing to do.
19/ Climate has not been a winning political issue in the past. People fear complexity. So most politicians haven't yet been honest with the public about the scale of what must happen. AOC has the honesty to say what must be done, regardless of the consequences.
20/ In the words of @saikatc: "That is real leadership: willing to call for what's needed, not just what seems possible."
21/ She is focused on pursuing things that are very hard. She is not taking the easy way out. Most politicians are trying to find the easy way out. But the easy way out doesn't exist. Therefore, I trust her more than most politicians.
22/ Her plan is appropriately radical. She is, in the words of @EricHolthaus: "The only American politician I've ever seen with a climate change plan that is in line with intergenerational justice"
23/ To quote this fantastic piece by @drvox : "This represents perhaps the 1st time in US history that a Democrat has proposed a plan for addressing climate change that actually scales to the problem and has some chance of influencing the party’s agenda." vox.com/energy-and-env…
24/ Conventional wisdom holds that radical positions would make people trust AOC less. But that's not happening, because we know she is being honest.
25/ The honest truth is that the only viable path available to us requires extremely radical change. I do not trust anyone who thinks we should do less than what AOC is proposing, because they aren't being honest.
26/ Her choice to stake her reputation on the honest, radical path also demonstrates how she prioritizes the collective needs over her own political safety. Systems thinkers don't view the world in terms of individuals. We view the world through a lens of collective impact.
27/ Which explains why AOC invested so much time and effort traveling around helping other aligned candidates with their campaigns. cbsnews.com/news/alexandri…
28/ She didn't view these other campaigns as separate from her own. Most candidates would focus on growing their own tree to be the tallest in the forest. AOC is focused on improving the health of the forest ecosystem.
29/ So while every other politician arrives in DC and chooses one battlefield, AOC chooses the war: #GreenNewDeal is jobs, the economy, justice & climate in one. A systems thinker sees that there's no other place to focus if you're going to be honest about solving big problems.
30/ There was a time when our problems were simpler, and more clear-cut. In that time, we needed leaders who had deep expertise/knowledge about specific problems. Experience was paramount.
31/ It was important that politicians knew everything, and we judged them on this. It was unacceptable that Dan Quayle spelled 'potato' wrong. Whichever leader knew the most would earn the trust of the public.
32/ Today, our problems are too complex, dynamic, and interconnected to expect our leaders to have perfect knowledge of every issue. Instead, we now need leaders who are systems thinkers, capable of seeing how the whole ecosystem works.
33/ We need big picture strategists who can experiment with deploying resources in different ways and iterating. We need leaders who are comfortable with risk and uncertainty. A know-it-all can never succeed in this role.
34/ We need people who know what they don't know, and approach challenges with a spirit of honest inquiry. When a policymaker claims to know everything, we know that they are either being dishonest, or they lack the ambition needed to solve our biggest problems.
35/ @Ocasio2018 is honest, humble, and curious about the limits of her expertise, while being fiercely committed to the values driving her efforts. Right now we need more leaders like this.
36/ Her honesty allows for vulnerable authenticity alongside bold ambition. Her honesty allows for tactful diplomacy alongside sick burns on Twitter. Her honesty allows for live Instagram broadcasts where she takes questions while making mac and cheese.
37/ Marshall McLuhan said "the medium is the message," and the very nature of her social media posts (unpolished, unprepared, real-time) prove to us that the message is honest, and not being focus-grouped. This makes her posts all the more compelling.
38/ I've been a casual Instagram user forever (since it was Burbn), but I've never been a daily user, and never paid much attention to Instagram Stories. AOC has changed that. Her posts are so refreshing and interesting that she has single-handedly made me a daily user.
39/ The other night at a party I discovered that two other friends of mine had also become active users of Instagram Stories in recent weeks just because of AOC (Yo @mosseri, can you confirm if this is a thing? Or is it just my friends?)
40/ Anyway, this demonstrates how rare her brand of honesty is. This is not a proprietary secret. Any politician can embrace honesty and systems thinking if they're willing to let go of their fear of judgment and their fear of complexity. Thanks for showing us how, AOC. 🙌
