Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the dangerous allure of ego

It was certainly a stunning victory by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as this unknown 28 year old defeated one of the leaders of the U.S. House Democratic caucus. Hers has been characterized as a rags-to-riches story of a former waitress with no political experience overcoming the local political machine.

The actual story is actually somewhat different. Ocasio-Cortez is actually a child of privilege, the daughter of an architect who grew up in Westchester and graduated at the top of her class from Boston University. She interned in Ted Kennedy’s office. She did suffer a tragedy when her father died and she and her mother had to work to save their home from foreclosure. But after college, she started a successful business and was a well-regarded educator when she ran for Congress.

In fact, Ocasio-Cortez is a very impressive person on a number of levels. It says something about our political culture that this impressive background has been ignored in favor of the narrative of her as a “local girl makes good,” as Maureen Dowd in The New York Times called her.

What’s more is that Ocasio-Cortez owes her victory, more than anything, to low turnout. She won the election with less than 16,000 votes. Joseph Crowley, the incumbent got less than 12,000. By contrast, Nancy Pelosi won over 118,000 votes in her…