Why so many New Yorkers were swayed by the lies of socialism and Zohran Mamdani

On Tuesday, New Yorkers — by a slight majority, but a majority nonetheless — endorsed Zohran Mamdani and the proud, unrepentant form of socialism he champions as the answer to, as least as he presents it, all of their woes. 

“We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about,” Mamdani declared during his victory speech, an inversion of Ronald Reagan’s famous truism. 

At least some of the Big Apple’s lurch to the far left is attributable to the 34-year-old’s undeniable political talent. 

But there are greater, or — to be blunt — more sinister forces at work. 

Most insidious of all are two intertwined lies: that Americans today have it worse than their forebearers and that their wealthy peers bear the blame for their plight. 

Heard mentality 

Campaigning is the art of hearing people, and Mamdani heard New Yorkers better than anyone. 

They and their countrymen remain alarmed by the cost of living across a wide variety of goods and services: from housing, to groceries, to child care to transportation. 

These are real concerns that no voter should be ashamed of expressing and every politician worth their salt ought to devote their time and energy to alleviating. 

These justifiable feelings have been unjustly compounded, though, by progressives’ relentless demoralization campaign. 

Want to buy a house?

Not in this economy, they say. 

Need health care?

Good luck. 

Are you hopeful your kids will enjoy a better life than you did?

They won’t. 

Never mind whether any of that is true, these claims are meant to discourage Americans into handing more power over to the government — and it’s working. 

Moreover, the treatment Mamdani and his comrades propose will make New Yorkers’ real problems worse. 

Instead of telling his soon-to-be constituents that they are the masters of their own lives — and trying to cultivate the necessary conditions for them to improve their lot — the mayor-elect’s message to his followers is that they have somehow been gipped. 

His celebration of his ticket to Gracie Mansion on Tuesday included denunciations of “bad landlords” and “billionaires,” as well the assertion, “For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands.” 

Blame games 

It is tempting to buy into the blame game that Mamdani has turned into such a potent weapon. 

To some, it comes as a great relief to believe that every errant degree they’ve pursued, every frivolous dollar they’ve spent, indeed, every mistake they’ve ever made can be chalked up to some successful person or entity pulling a fast one over them. 

And to hear that it is someone else’s job to get them back on track. 

But then again, this message — disguised as it is by flowery language, a remarkable faux generosity of spirit and seemingly optimistic utopianism — is actually astonishingly bleak. 

What Zohran Mamdani and his fellow travelers are telling people is that they live in a dystopia in which they lack the power to better themselves.

That they’re being dragged down by anchors from which only the government can free them. 

And if they can’t do anything about their problems, why should they try? 

This accountability-free approach is alluring at first glance, but a shortfall of self-responsibility always leads to a surplus of self-loathing. 

Moreover, the socialist dream has been, paradoxically, kept alive by American politicians’ already pernicious spending habits. 

Contrary to Mamdani’s claims, the United States has hardly been practicing trickle-up austerity.

As of this week, America owes its creditors over $38 trillion. 

Is it any wonder that voters — who have yet to suffer the worst consequences of the debt crisis — wonder why they shouldn’t receive free health care, child care, transportation and more for this substantial cost? 

Holding people back 

The charge is even more curious in New York, where the city and state enjoy ritual increases passed as a matter of course by its homogenous, left-wing leaders, who have saddled their constituents with countless taxes, regulations and union concessions — you know, the kind of malignant nuisances that actually hold people back. 

Mamdani wants to worsen the housing crisis with price controls; why not unshackle its builders instead? 

Rather than stripping gifted students of opportunities to excel, why not extend the offer to more? 

And if there are a dearth of well-paying jobs in the city, shouldn’t he be trying to attract, rather than antagonize, employers? 

The siren song of socialism always begins so beautifully. 

The extravagant promises, the dearth of trade-offs: It’s John Lennon’s “Imagine” come to life. 

But Americans had best plug their ears and look past the fog to the rocky shores ahead. 

Because they, not the bogeymen of Mamdani’s campaign, are at the helm. 

Isaac Schorr is a senior editor at Mediaite.