Achieved Goal of an Effective and Believable Speaker

Effective Rhetor

The existence of a potent and efficacious rhetorician is a requirement in pretty much every aspect of life and especially if a critical issue has to be discoursed to the public. A good example of an influential public speaker is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman elected to Congress. She made headlines after beating an incumbent in the primaries despite having no political experience, and her progressive policies put her in the spotlight. An achieved goal of an efficient and plausible speaker is to be knowledgeable and recognize matters and make a reasonable claim regarding them whether the opinion is being accounted as in favor or disfavor, all while maintaining confidence and persistence.

Ocasio-Cortez’s story is one many Americans are familiar with. She grew up in a lower middle class family and her immigrant parents worked hard so she could lead a better life. She went to college and earned a Bachelor’s in Economics and International Relations, graduating with a ton of debt. Despite a good education, she worked paycheck to paycheck as a bartender. Her experience and familiarity as a middle-class worker appealed to the common American and made her a favorable candidate. After being sworn in to Congress, Ocasio-Cortez got to work advocating for the middle class, and pushing for the increase of marginal tax rates, up to 70%, on salaries of $10 million and higher. She believes the upper class owns more money than they need, and it could be used to fund policies that improve the nation. She shares a view similar to Bernie Sanders when it comes to the increasing divide between the poor and rich and the disappearing middle class. She recognizes the flaws in the American university loan system, as she continues to pay off her own college debt, and aims to make a quality college education less expensive. As Leith points out “Aristotle said that the basic job of a rhetorician was to discover the best available means of persuasion. That’s what is meant, in this context, by “invention”: not making things up, but exploring what there is to say on a subject. The word’s root means to “come upon” something: to find what’s available to be said.” In other words, Ocasio- Cortez was already in the position of debt so she was able to connect with the Americans facing debt. By forming a connection with her audience, her point was delivered and taken into consideration.

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As a younger member of Congress, Ocasio-Cortez also acknowledges the threat climate change poses and has proposed a Green New Deal, adopting the name from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, which helped the US prosper after WWII. She also explicates how the Green New Deal should be funded similarly to the New Deal. Referencing the New Deal is an effective method for appealing to pathos as it reminds Americans of a more prosperous era, and the fact that it is possible to return to that period. She considers global warming 'the single biggest national security threat for the United States and the single biggest threat to worldwide industrialized civilization”.

Transitioning to health care, Ocasio-Cortez asserts, 'In my on-boarding to Congress, I get to pick my insurance plan. As a waitress, I had to pay more than TWICE what I'd pay as a member of Congress.” “Ocasio-Cortez reported annual earnings of $26,581 in 2017 when she was living in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx. Based on the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator, she would pay roughly $160 per month — about $1,922 per year — for a silver plan if she still lived in the Bronx and was making the same amount in 2019.” Simply put, the American middle-class does not get the chance of medical services while the wealthy class does, and lives without insurance coverage, and many people of higher socioeconomic background are unaware of the struggles the majority of Americans face. In like manner, Leith suggests, that “Aristotle remarks, shrewdly, that the most effective form of argument is one that the audience is allowed to think it has worked out itself: one whose conclusion, in other words, the listener reaches just before, or just as, the speaker makes it. “The audience takes pleasure in themselves for anticipating the point.” Particularly, when evidence is provided your argument somehow becomes stronger and has your audience convinced.

Lunsford indicates, that “sometimes a strong emotion such as anger adds energy to a passage.” Similarly, Ocasio-Cortez discusses LGBTQ rights and how these human beings are part of receiving constitutional rights by specifying,“It's a no-brainer...trans rights are civil rights are human rights.' Ocasio-Cortez using efficiency touches the hearts of her opponents as well as her audience. As a result, causing her to successfully convey her purpose of granting LGBTQ equality.. According to “Comprising an Analysis of the Laws of Moral Evidence and of Persuasion, with Rules for Argumentative Composition and Elocution” the definition of energy “is to comprehend everything that may conduce to stimulate attention, -to impress strongly on the mind the Arguments adduced,-to excite the Imagination, and to arouse the Feelings (Richard,et al).” Meaning, adding sensation to your argument aids in pushing your justification.

Ocasio-Cortez converses about immigration and fully supports the disbanding of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, declaring it as a means of criminalization. As a daughter of immigrants, and growing up in a neighborhood which consists of a large amount of immigrants, Ocasio-Cortez understands the difficulties of leaving a country and surrounding oneself in unfamiliarity. She understands people come into this country hoping to find opportunities they would not have elsewhere and mean no harm. She elucidates she would rather 'create a pathway to citizenship for more immigrants through decriminalization'. Particularly saying that immigrants deserve legal documentation and no typical stereotyping of being violent. Using Twitter as her platform she spoke against Trump by calling him a “racist” she addressed all the ways Trump attacked particular ethnicities. For example, she pointed out Trump’s campaign for labeling “Mexicans as rapists.” Ocasio-Cortez maintains her position by stating facts, fighting against racism, and representing that she is willing to work hard to stop deportation. She states, 'Those women and children trying to come here with nothing but the shirts on their back to create an opportunity and provide for this nation are acting more in an American tradition than this president is right now.'

According to “The Essential Nature of Humility for Today’s Leaders” “when leaders displayed higher levels of humility, it often increased followers’ willingness to place themselves in a position of vulnerability that could easily be exploited as they sacrificed their personal identity and wellbeing for organizational goals. this demonstrates that leaders must be careful to steward human resources in a humble way that looks out for the needs of the follower as the follower pursues organizational goals.” Ocasio-Cortez, the daughter of immigrants, uses herself as an example, and demonstrates that she is no lawbreaker and is living her life with integrity.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is aware of the power politicians has and she has used her platform to address the issues a majority of Americans face but other politicians don’t recognize. Her personal experiences and knowledge of economics allow her to advocate for better policies which benefit people of lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

Works Cited

1. Whately, Richard, and Douglas Ehninger. Elements of Rhetoric : Comprising an Analysis of the Laws of Moral Evidence and of Persuasion, with Rules for Argumentative Composition and Elocution. Vol. Paperback ed, Southern Illinois University Press, 2010. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.fcclib.nocccd.edu/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.fcclib.nocccd.edu/log
2. in.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=458781&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
3. BREEDLOVE, JERRY D. “The Essential Nature of Humility for Today’s Leaders.” The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership, vol. 10, no. 1, Spring 2016, pp. 34–44. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.fcclib.nocccd.edu/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.fcclib.nocccd.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=133593258&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

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