AOC claims founding fathers fought Revolutionary War 'against the billionaires of their time'

Left-wing congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has claimed that the American Revolution was actually a fight against the wealthy class at the time, because of issues such as taxation without representation. This comes on the heels of the politician claiming that nobody can earn a billion dollars.  

Speaking on how she was slammed for her comments on billionaires to a group at UChicago, “They like to talk about American ethos as though it's an attack on American values, an attack on our idea of success. And first of all, I mean, call me crazy, but I don't think that every single American aspires to be a billionaire. I think that the our idea of success, they might not object, but I don't think it's the universal American ideal.”

"I think our ideal of success is to be able to work an honest job and sustain yourself and support your kids and go on vacation, you know, once or twice a year and have some money in your pocket and be part of a community and have your community and your town be safe and thrive and to be part of something bigger than ourselves. And the second point on this, David, is that I want to talk about how this is in the heritage of our country because America was founded. You look at Thomas Jefferson writing to Madison in revolt of British aristocracy. The American Revolution was against the billionaires of their time. And we are declaring independence from such an extreme marriage of wealth and power and the state that the voices of everyday people did not exist.”

Many were quick to point out, however, that the American Revolution was not really a fight over wealth distribution, and that many of the founding fathers were themselves very rich for the time.

“John Hancock was arguably the richest person in the colonies. He was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. His main competition was Robert Morris, who also signed the Declaration. AOC is embarrassing,” Senior Fellow from the Claremont Institute Jeremy Carl wrote in response.

Others pointed to how Morris at the time had himself become known as the “Financier of the Revolution,” in how he used his vast amount of wealth at the time to back the war.

“The richest man in America in 1776 literally bankrupted himself funding the America Revolution!” Senior Analyst at the Club for Growth, Andrew Follett said.

Previous to her appearance, Ocasio-Cortez made similar remarks bashing billionaires on the “It’s Open” podcast with comedian Ilana Glazer.

“You can’t earn a billion dollars. You just can’t earn that,” the former barista claimed. “You can abuse labor laws, you can pay people less than what they’re worth. But you can’t earn that, right? And so you have to create a myth that — since you didn’t earn that, you have to create a myth of earning it.”