Zohran Mamdani, New York’s flower child

Zohran Mamdani, New York’s flower child

Isn’t it a bit amusing to see all the stories bashing Zohran Mamdani? Don’t you think that his voters know that the is a socialist radical? One who wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and the corporations? Who wants to give all sorts of stuff to the poor? Who wants to freeze rents? Who wants to raise minimum wages? Who wants to send social workers to domestic violence calls rather than cops? Who wants to globalize the intifada? Who wants city run grocery stores? Who wants no more billionaires? Who wants to boycott, disinvest and sanctions against Israel? Who is unapologetic about his socialism? Who says “violence is an artificial construct?” Who says “A statue of Columbus remains in Astoria, in defiance of the values of humanity, empathy & justice that we stand for.” Who wants to universal childcare? Who wants to seize the seize the means of production? Hold it, seize the means of production? In New York City? What are they producing – municipal bonds?

Mamdani has said that if he is out of work he can always get support from his parents. He has obviously needed it with virtually no real job on his resume. He was a failed rap “artist”, lived in subsidized housing and only worked for three years before being elected to the New York State Assembly. He is from Uganda and his major at Bowdoin College (home of the great Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain) was Africana studies – of course. He just wants to “envision a world marked by equality, sustainability, justice, and love.“  A flower child? Hey, sounds like the perfect mayor for New York to me.

Mamdani’s support is mainly among young college “educated” whites. Although his platform was based on an erstwhile Robin Hood – taking from the rich and giving to the poor – the poor in New York voted for Cuomo. Some are saying that voting for Mamdani was the result of our education system which is dominated by socialists and anticapitalists. Maybe so, but most of youth turn into their parents once they have to leave the cocoon of home and college and get a real job. They become less willing to give up their money to the government to be distributed first to the bureaucrats than then secondly to the masses. Maybe the youth in New York just wanted to be anti-establishment. Or maybe Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo were worse losers in their eyes, 

Some say that these young folk are naïve and stupid. If so, then kindly explain the support for Mamdani among some of the city’s millionaires. Some of his supporters are among the city’s new generation of millennial millionaires, tech founders, venture capitalists, and Wall Street traders who are backing Mamdani despite his wanting to tax the rich to pay for his expansive social give-aways. One young venture capitalist says “In my eyes, I should absolutely be paying my fair share for the people that need it.” Did anyone tell him that he could start a foundation to serve that purpose? Or make a direct contribution to the poor? Why does he need the government as a middleman? This guy is an idiot.

And speaking of idiots, voting data show that about a third of the city’s wealthiest residents supported Mamdani in the primary.

Current polls show that despite some of the city’s old money trying to coalesce around Adams who has virtually no chance of winning, Mamdani maintains a solid lead and will be elected. I say good riddance. The founders of this country set up a democratic republic with states rights. The states could be “laboratories of democracy.”  Louis Brandeis noted that the federal system of government allowed any state to be a laboratory for experiments in policy without putting the nation as a whole at risk. Well in that spirit, let New York City embark on its experiment of socialism. Even Bernie Sanders’ Vermont, home of Ben and Jerry’s, has a republican governor. Let Sanders can be an advisor. Maybe AOC can be head of a city department. No testimony from those fleeing oppressive socialist regimes will do. No appeals to history will do. No, the only way the children of socialism will learn their lesson is to experience it.

Bring it on.