New York City is poised to elect Zohran Mamdani, a self-identified democratic socialist, as its next mayor. Mamdani has run a sophisticated campaign based in part on his intersectional identity as a Muslim immigrant and in part on promises cherished by progressive whites.
Mamdani’s policy proposals are wrapped in slick advertising and catchy slogans, such as “Afford to live, afford to dream.” But his agenda is standard-issue socialism with hard-left cultural politics: free buses, government-controlled housing, platoons of social workers, and millions in funding for child sex-change operations.
Such policies may sound novel and inspiring. But if history is any guide, they will make the city more chaotic, more unstable, more violent, and, for taxpayers, more expensive.
Why, then, have New Yorkers responded so positively? First and foremost, the Left has mastered the art of hatching political stars and dominating deep-blue districts.
Mamdani built his campaign on the infrastructure of the Democratic Socialists of America. The DSA and its city allies can dispatch activists across New York and, with a network of progressive partner organizations, can mobilize young people, get out the vote, and do the work of door-to-door politics.
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