Here's a tremendous part of why the Dems are owned. They owe, wait for it, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee a lot of money. It's a pay to play system.
THE DUES FOR the 2020 cycle, according to the DCCC dues document, range from $150,000 at the low level to $1,000,000 for the speaker of the House.
The document lays out the price of particular committee assignments. Leadership posts for the second-, third-, and fourth-ranking Democrats — currently Steny Hoyer, Jim Clyburn, and Ben Ray Luján — range from $900,000 down to $700,000. The next tier of leadership, which includes Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, DCCC Chair Cheri Bustos, and others, costs just $575,000. Lower-ranking members of leadership owe between $400,000 and $500,000.
On those so-called money committees, like Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce, even freshman members are asked to pay higher dues. That’s because those committees have jurisdiction over effectively every major industry, giving members a leg-up in demanding checks from corporations who need — or oppose — legislation before the panel. It is also valuable for industries to have committee members write letters to agencies they oversee.
https://theintercept.com/2019/09/03/dcc ... tees-dues/
For free thinkers like AOC, it's hard to compete with those numbers. We've fucked ourselves out of representation with our own system.