I see the Gruaniad is calling Mamdani "a 33-year-old democratic socialist," and am wondering if that means "democratic socialist" or just "New Deal Liberal." Because in my view, Bernie and AOC are New Deal Liberals and not Democratic Socialists.
Thinking of New Deal Liberalism as Socialism is a category error that I would like to see made much less often, and preferably never, from anybody who claims to be a political analyst.
Right. It's really being used to mean "DSA member", which all sorts of people are, including Lander (and, somebody was saying, David Dinkins), by writers who don't have a good grasp of what DSA is. Mamdani does, however, have his proposal for city-owned grocery stores, which is pretty socialist, and I think his housing plans have more direct public sector involvement than most.
This prompted me to go look at the DSA web site with a view to answering "Is DSA really Socialist?" And in the interest of not being That Sectarian Leftist Purity-Tester, I have to admit that the answer ought to be "yes." There's no outright call for expropriating the means of production, but there's "We want to collectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives, such as energy production and transportation." The immediate examples for reform are like "We want to win “radical” reforms like single-payer Medicare for All, defunding the police/refunding communities, the Green New Deal, and more as a transition to a freer, more just life."
And the Palm Beach County chapter seems to be doing a reading circle on "What Is To Be Done," by that old Bolshevik V.I. Lenin. Seems pretty Socialist.
UK Labour Party manifestos kept references to Marx and class struggle until long after their program had dropped any practical affiliation. (I think it was under Blair that it was completely purged.) And yet I think Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn were more doctrinally socialist than most of the party leadership in the previous 50 years.
My every exchange with Mamdani activists began with “He’s not a Hamas supporter at all” and went to “Israel must be destroyed by any means possible” and “if jews are targets of 68% of all hate crimes, they deserve it”.
Anyone that voted for this because of nice policies and smooth charisma is at best naive. It’s like voting for a klansman with nice economic policies.
If your only counter to things that don’t fit your worldview is to accuse people of being paid, you truly belong in MAGA
I’d show you screenshots but you don’t allow it. Past few days and especially today made it very clear that many Mamdani activists have no problem with bringing hate and violence to NYC.
I love the granularity.
Big City!
Small Town!
Thanks!
I see the Gruaniad is calling Mamdani "a 33-year-old democratic socialist," and am wondering if that means "democratic socialist" or just "New Deal Liberal." Because in my view, Bernie and AOC are New Deal Liberals and not Democratic Socialists.
Thinking of New Deal Liberalism as Socialism is a category error that I would like to see made much less often, and preferably never, from anybody who claims to be a political analyst.
Right. It's really being used to mean "DSA member", which all sorts of people are, including Lander (and, somebody was saying, David Dinkins), by writers who don't have a good grasp of what DSA is. Mamdani does, however, have his proposal for city-owned grocery stores, which is pretty socialist, and I think his housing plans have more direct public sector involvement than most.
This prompted me to go look at the DSA web site with a view to answering "Is DSA really Socialist?" And in the interest of not being That Sectarian Leftist Purity-Tester, I have to admit that the answer ought to be "yes." There's no outright call for expropriating the means of production, but there's "We want to collectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives, such as energy production and transportation." The immediate examples for reform are like "We want to win “radical” reforms like single-payer Medicare for All, defunding the police/refunding communities, the Green New Deal, and more as a transition to a freer, more just life."
And the Palm Beach County chapter seems to be doing a reading circle on "What Is To Be Done," by that old Bolshevik V.I. Lenin. Seems pretty Socialist.
UK Labour Party manifestos kept references to Marx and class struggle until long after their program had dropped any practical affiliation. (I think it was under Blair that it was completely purged.) And yet I think Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn were more doctrinally socialist than most of the party leadership in the previous 50 years.
My every exchange with Mamdani activists began with “He’s not a Hamas supporter at all” and went to “Israel must be destroyed by any means possible” and “if jews are targets of 68% of all hate crimes, they deserve it”.
Anyone that voted for this because of nice policies and smooth charisma is at best naive. It’s like voting for a klansman with nice economic policies.
How much is Cuomo paying you to tell these terrible and obviously false stories?
If your only counter to things that don’t fit your worldview is to accuse people of being paid, you truly belong in MAGA
I’d show you screenshots but you don’t allow it. Past few days and especially today made it very clear that many Mamdani activists have no problem with bringing hate and violence to NYC.
As Yogi Berra once said, extraordinary anecdotes require extraordinary proof. I believe links are allowed.
Screenshots are prevented by Substack, not me. If there's been violence in the last few days it must have been reported somewhere, send me a URL.