A YOUNG SOCIALIST DEFEATS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS

In a huge political upset a socialist has ousted longtime establishment Democrat Joe Crowley. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was considered to be such a rank outsider that the New York Times never even bothered to publish a single story on her.

WHILE THERE seems to be an unrelenting amount of bad news coming out of the United States there are times when we are reminded that defeat for Trump and his acolytes isn't out of reach - if people are prepared to stand up for what they believe in and refuse to pander to the rich and powerful.

Today the American left is celebrating the election victory of 28 year old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, she ousted 10 term incumbent Joe Crowley. Crowley was considered to be the fourth most powerful Democrat in Congress. He was considered to be the only realistic replacement for Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi.

With the backing of corporate donors, Crowley's campaign budget dwarfed that of Ocasio-Cortez's. At the end of March Crowley had a budget of $1.6 million while Ocasio-Cortez was working with a campaign budget of just $48,000.

Crowley's defeat represents a potential sea change in American politics and will raise serious questions about the political direction of the Democratic Party under its conservative leadership. Despite the defeat of Hillary Clinton it remains resolutely centrist and has failed to present the American electorate with a clear progressive alternative to the Trump agenda.

Ocasio-Cortez ran a determinedly left wing campaign with some mainstream pundits declaring that her 'left wing rhetoric' only played into the 'sensible and safe' hands of Joe Crowley.

Her message to the American left was that their brand of activism could succeed on a grander scale.

""This is not an end, this is the beginning. This is the beginning because the message that we sent the world tonight is that it's not OK to put donors before your community."

In 2017 Ocasio-Cortez was a bartender in New York. Now she will be the youngest woman to have ever been voted to Congress. As one of her supporters tweeted "SOCIALISM is spelled Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez."