AOC Claims American Revolution Was Also a Fight Against 'Billionaires'

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claimed on Jan. 10 (local time) that the American Revolution was a fight against the wealthy elite of that era. Her statement came in response to criticism of her previous assertion that billionaires accumulated their fortunes through exploitation rather than legitimate earnings. Speaking at a University of Chicago Institute of Politics event, Ocasio-Cortez said, "This is about our country's heritage. The American Revolution was a fight against the wealthy elite of that time, and we declare independence from the extreme combination of wealth and power and state."

She had previously argued that billionaires' wealth was not 'earned' but rather acquired through market power, rule-breaking, labor law exploitation, and paying less than minimum wage. "You cannot earn billions of dollars. You can acquire market power, you can break the rules, you can exploit labor laws, you can pay people less than their value, but you cannot call it earned," Ocasio-Cortez explained, adding that the myth of the billionaire was created to obscure these processes.

Ocasio-Cortez dismissed criticism against her as a 'red herring' designed to distract from the 'immorality' of income inequality. She pointed out that critics assumed all billionaires were immoral and pushed back against the notion that such arguments were an attack on American values and the idea of success. She stated that she does not believe every American aspires to become a billionaire, suggesting that our concept of success might not be a universal American ideal.

The congresswoman's remarks drew criticism from conservatives. Some critics pointed out that many wealthy colonists, including George Washington, led and funded the American Revolution against the British government. Utah Senator Mike Lee retorted, "The American Revolution was against a big, distant, overreaching government that taxed and regulated and exploited the property of its citizens." Texas Senator Ted Cruz also criticized the statement, saying, "If a 9th grader wrote this on a history exam, they would get an F," asserting that the revolution was contrary to the kind of government Ocasio-Cortez wants to impose on everyone.