In their coverage of the Democratic National Convention, the New York Times reports that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Kamala Harris represents the "working class." Actually, AOC said "middle class." Let's unpack this little error. When she entered Congress, AOC was a "democratic socialist." It only took a couple years for her to come around to using the same rhetoric as other politicians. This apparently took even the New York Times by surprise. One of the chief forces protecting capitalism in the United States is that so many workers identify as middle class despite having no prospect of owning their own homes or retiring comfortably. There is a vast gulf in standard of living between a doctor and a barista. Politicians and journalists do their best to obscure these differences. We're all supposed to think of ourselves as being somewhere in the middle. But if you consult the data, the majority of us are struggling while a small middle class and a very small ruling class make out at our expense. As long as we put our faith in politicians, however "democratic" or "socialist" they claim to be, we will always end up being betrayed. We have to build powerful grassroots movements against capitalism itself—understanding ourselves as the protagonists, not politicians. crimethinc.com/antiwork