Well New York, you did it: The world’s financial capital just elected Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, as its 111th.Well New York, you did it: The world’s financial capital just elected Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, as its 111th mayor. For all of the enthusiasm of his mostly millennial and Gen Z supporters, many other New Yorkers and observers worldwide are horrified at the prospect of the experimental application…
Well New York, you did it: The world’s financial capital just elected Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, as its 111th mayor.
For all of the enthusiasm of his mostly millennial and Gen Z supporters, many other New Yorkers and observers worldwide are horrified at the prospect of the experimental application of far-left economic policies to America’s largest municipality. While in the age of social media Mamdani has left a comprehensive record of various radical (economic and otherwise) sympathies, one needn’t look beyond his own mayoral campaign platform to reveal a dystopian panoply of collectivist economic policies. Rent freezes. Free buses. Government-run grocery stores. Politicians are frequently accused of hiding their true positions under the cover of bland nostrums while campaigning; Mamdani cannot be fairly accused of hiding the ball. The policy extremism is plain to see.
Let’s be honest: These are terrible ideas, and no serious person with even the most basic understanding of economic theory (or who has simply apprehended the real world on a daily basis) believes any of them will work. Flawed economic ideas, of course, have always been with us: Serfdom, slavery, and sharecropping were all fundamentally forms of economic organization rooted in exploitation and impoverishment, and have deservedly been consigned to the ash bin of history.
What sets collectivism apart — whether called Marxism, socialism, communism, or more vaguely as “social justice”, take your pick — is that those on the exploitive side of the ledger in those now-defunct systems were quite clear-eyed that they were not for the benefit of those subjected to them.
Collectivism distinguishes itself from other failed economic ideologies not only by its longevity (despite consistently failing to deliver), but in that it is marketed as an uplifting economic policy for those upon whom it is inflicted — thus explaining its longevity. Yet how can anyone credibly advocate for something proven time and again not to work?
Let us first dispense with two straw men frequently deployed in defense of socialist economics.
