It Just Got Real

Or did it?

The recent socialist upsurge, embodied by the unabashed Islamist Socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, brings with it a rash of irrational agenda items.

Amongst the ideas that show Mamdani’s ignorance of human nature and governing demands are proposals for non-profit city-owned grocery stores, faster, free buses and free universal child care. A refrain of “free” portends a chaos likely to be a hallmark of his tenure in office. Those plans may not see fruition as it seems he thinks he can tax his way to “free.”

A cherry on top of his economic vision is his ‘$30 by ‘30’ proposal to boost NYC’s already high $16.50 per hour minimum wage to $30 by 2030.

All of those ideas sound like both the pipe dreams of the many, largely young, voters who are perennially attracted to the greener grass of socialist make-believe as well as the bluster of an inexperienced administrator. And they bespeak a social organization antithetic to the independent pursuit of economic agendas long embraced by our society.

And it remains to be seen just how he might accomplish any of those goals in a reality constrained by both financial circumstance and the citizenry’s constitutionally protected civil rights. Kathy Hochul has already informed him that the state won’t (can’t) pay for implementing any of them.

Apparently, Zohran is unaware that grocery stores run on very thin margins. Even with the city government absolving the city-run stores of property tax burdens, paying everybody who works in them $30 per hour is likely to create a huge hole in the municipal budget. Getting past the grocery stores, making buses faster and ‘free’ won’t be free either; and of course, day care workers need to get paid.

It's easy to believe that Mamdani knew when he made these proposals that they were unrealistic and unattainable goals – that would hardly be unusual for a politician to make promises that they know can’t be kept, but will draw votes. Eventually some dollar figures and plans must be forthcoming, and it will be educational to watch how he lets the faithful down. Can he even begin to orchestrate the socialist revision of New York without the focal tenet of that creed, the abolition of private property?

More significant, perhaps, is Mamdani’s alignment with some other leftist pols such as Nancy Pelosi and Brandon Johnson, who have threatened ICE officers with sanctions, including potential arrest by local officers, for carrying out deportation apprehensions. Should an actual kinetic confrontation occur between local officials and the Feds it could trigger (probably unsuccessful) violent civil disobedience. And it would confirm to many the suspicion that Mamdani doesn’t understand the U.S. Constitution or our federal system.

At present, I don’t see a lot of substance to Zohran, and he may be just a flash in the pan. But who knows for what he might be the tip of a spear? Barring his getting into some federal imbroglio, he may be nearing the peak of his 15 minutes of fame.

But, surprisingly, AOC seems to be faring OK politically, and at her debut, she also seemed wholly unprepared. That may speak more to the voters’ reflexive voting habits than any policy wizardry on her part.