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Media darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow squad members have never been shy about their plan to shove the Democratic Party toward adopting socialist principles. And now that were more than a year and a half into the AOC era, its clear that theirtwo-partplan is working.

The first component of their plan is to reshape the Congressional Progressive Caucus(CPC)into a powerful political force in Congress. Historically, thecaucus,which began in the 1990s, has beenprimarilya club for left-wing congressional Democrats. But it hadlittle political power because of itsmembersunwillingness to vote as a bloc.

AOC, Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and other radical Democrats have been working to reform the CPC so that the socialist left has the ability to controlor, at the very least, heavily influencethe agenda for the entire party.

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Although the CPC hasnt totally adopted this approach, socialists havein recent monthsmade significant progress towardachievingtheir goal. The caucus was initially one of the primary drivers of the effort to impeach President Trump, and their demands for a government takeover of health care, increasing the federal minimum wage to $15, and the creation of a radical Green New Deal all made significant progress in 2019, laying the groundwork for 2021, when CPC members hope to have friendlier forces controlling the White House and Senate.

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But perhaps the biggestvictoryfor the CPC came in December when it won a widely publicized battle with House leadership over the detailsof drug-pricing legislation.

Thebill, titledtheElijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act,would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companiesfor a set number of drugs. Of course, it wouldnt be much of a negotiation. The White House Council of Economic Advisersnotedthat those who fail to meet the pricing standards set by the federal government would face an excise tax of up to 95 percent of sales.

The CPC supported the legislations framework, but it demanded that SpeakerNancyPelosi and House leadership expand the number of drugs covered by the legislation from 35 to 50, along with several other fairly sizeable changes. Pelosi initially refused, but once the CPC threatened to vote against thebill, House leadership was forced to cave and theconcessions were made.

After winning the battle with Pelosi, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a socialist andCPCco-leader, said onTwitter, This is a huge victory for the American people! When we stick together, fight hard and with principle, we help improve lives for millions of people.

Sticking together is exactly whatOcasio-Cortez and her allies have been demanding of the caucus from the moment they arrived in Washington, and its looking like their efforts have paid off.

The AOC-backed group Justice Democrats is working with numerous candidates across the country to unseatmoderate Democratic members of Congress.

The second part ofAOC and her alliesplan to reshape the Democratic Party is to push out of positions of power and influence those who dont agree with their socialist platform.

In an interview earlier in January with New York Magazine, Ocasio-Cortez said that despite the gains made within the CPC, it still has far too many moderate members.

According to the New York Magazine profile,She [Ocasio-Cortez]said the Congressional Progressive Caucus should start kicking people out if they stray too far from the party line.Other caucuses within the Democratic Party in Congress require applications, Ocasio-Cortez pointed out. Butthey let anybody who the cat dragged in call themselves a progressive. Theres no standard,she said.

Laterin the interview, when asked about the possibility of Joe Biden becoming president, AOC groaned and then said,In any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party, but in America, we are.

Ocasio-Cortez isntjust passively complaining aboutthe alleged moderates in the party, either.In September,AOCendorsedsocialist congressional candidate Marie Newman, who is attempting to unseat an incumbent Democrat in Illinois.

In October, AOCendorsed Jessica Cisneros, a challenger to Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, yet another sitting Democratic member of Congress.

Further, despite the fact Ocasio-Cortez has raised more money than any other Democratic member of the House, she has refused to give any of her vast treasure trove of resources to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, choosing instead to independently help socialists and progressives that more closely align with her vision for the party.

And thats just the beginning. The AOC-backed group Justice Democrats is working with numerous other candidates across the country to unseateven moremoderate Democratic members of Congress.

The Democratic Partyhas been under the control of the left for more than a decade, butthepresent shift is even more extreme than many anticipated was possible at the end of the Obama era. Instead of preaching tolerance, AOC and her friends are demanding strict adherence to their brand of socialism. Anything short of putting the government in charge of virtually every aspect of society is now considered too moderatefor their party.

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There is simply no room left in the Democratic Party for anyone who believes in anything approaching responsible government spending practices or limiting the power of the ruling administrative state in Washingtoneven if that limitation is slight. Only those who agree to walk in lockstep with Ocasio-Cortez and the other de facto leaders of the party will be tolerated.

As Ocasio-Cortezrecently said,Democrats can be too big of a tent.Or, put another way, moderates are no longer welcome in the Democratic Party. It belongs to Karl Marx now.

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Justin Haskins: AOC's socialist takeover of Democrats is working here's why moderates should worry - Fox News