Courtesy of Wikipedia.org
The establishment on both sides of the political aisle is freaking out. Polls show that a third of voters identify as Democratic Socialists. The old guard is screaming that the sky is falling. What they are observing, however, isn’t a revolution but an evolution, and it’s happening for good reasons.
New York Mayor Zohan Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, provides an example. He is someone to be watched, not because of his political affiliation, but because he is delivering on his political promises. The Big Apple is becoming a place where those who work in the city can afford to live there. I’m talking about rent freezes, city-run grocery stores, and crackdowns on slum landlords.
He’s also setting a new standard for political campaigns. While running for office, he avoided big donors and corporate PACs. Support came in the form of small donations, augmented by an army of volunteers. Even more astounding, he listened to the voters.
The fear-mongering we hear about this new breed of politician comes from an old guard not used to working as hard as the mayor. They prefer large checks from corporations and big donors. Unfortunately, that kind of financing comes with strings, and voters are wise to be wary when too much influence lies in the hands of a few.
A new broom always challenges the status quo. That’s why some of those big corporations and the super-rich are threatening to flee the city. The mayor is right to ignore those threats.
I speak from experience. In the 1980s, Georgia Pacific left my city for cheaper headquarters in Georgia. My community worried about the lost revenue. As it turned out, their departure caused only a momentary blip. Soon the city adjusted as smaller businesses flowed in.
Even so, municipalities are always hungry for revenue and will go to extremes to get it. Remember how they courted Amazon in 2017 with tax breaks and other gimmicks when the company was scouting locations for a new corporate office? After giving away the store, did the winner, Arlington, Virginia, reap huge benefits? I have no idea.
I do know that Amazon warehouse workers live on starvation wages that don’t translate into increased tax revenue. Instead, those workers stress local helping agencies with requests for food and medical services.
I recall a similar incident during my time in public service. A German manufacturer proposed to relocate in our area if we provided tax incentives. I opposed the idea, fearing those “incentives” would place too great a burden on our residents. The deal went through anyway.
Sadly, the promised high-paying jobs never materialized. Instead, after draining our coffers for seven years, the company moved to a community that offered more “favorable” terms.
What I learned from the experience is that what makes a city viable isn’t dependent on the presence of corporations or the super-rich. Prosperity can come from midsize businesses and mom-and-pop stores. Those enterprises not only pay their local taxes, but they contribute to their communities. When a dentist buys uniforms for a Little League team, that’s his investment in the neighborhood that supports him. Unlike Georgia Pacific, he’s not likely to move away.
A corporation’s mandate is to make profits for itself and its shareholders. It owes no loyalty to a location. And here’s a detail seldom thought about. Corporate profits don’t stay in the community. They are transferred to headquarters, usually out of state, and redistributed as dividends to investors or used to overpay executives.
I suspect that voters have grown wise to how big money flows in our society. I note the promise of “new jobs” has done little to garner public support for data centers or ICE detention facilities. Residents have learned that the quality of life is important. And, as for those new jobs, in the case of the ICE compounds, they never materialize. Those for-profit institutions pad their revenues by forcing the immigrant inmates to work 14-hour days, cooking, cleaning, and performing maintenance jobs for a dollar a day. (“Profiting Off of a $1-a Day Pay,” by Douglas S. Pasternak, Public Citizen, July/August 2026, pg. 1) That’s not a wage. That’s slave labor.
I suspect defenders of the status quo will be in for a surprise in the 2026 midterm election. Fear mongering about creeping socialism isn’t a dog whistle that works anymore. People want universal healthcare, fair housing, and a living wage like the rest of the Western world. To quote one U. S. citizen, speaking into a reporter’s microphone, “People are sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
Mamdani’s dream of making New York a city where workers can afford to live is laudable; an idea likely to catch on elsewhere if Democratic Socialists grow in numbers. Already, his constituents say, “HE DELIVERS.” I’m guessing they are not talking about pizza.
BOYCOT: Tesla, Apple, Amazon
