Posted on 01/03/2026 7:42:02 AM PST by MtnClimber
“Today begins a new era,” declared Zohran Mamdani upon his swearing in yesterday as New York City’s 112th mayor. “Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”
Inaugural ceremonies aren’t usually a forum for deep deliberation and rational discourse. But a new leader’s words are rarely disconnected from his underlying philosophy. Mamdani’s inaugural comments therefore give us an idea of what to expect: claiming to represent “all” New Yorkers, the new mayor will work quickly to push through decisions unpopular at best, and harmful at worst.
The character of those decisions, too, is clear. In a line widely circulated on social media, Mamdani promised to “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Audacious collectivism: that’s the Mamdani agenda.
The inauguration ceremony reveals a mayor with no shortage of good intentions. But those intentions don’t align with economic realities, or with a sound grasp of human incentives and motivations. Like other collectivists before him, Mamdani’s vision is likely to run up against reality.
The commitment to the collective was on full display even in the lead up to Mamdani’s big moment. First came a speech from his fellow democratic socialist, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In electing Mamdani, New York had “chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few,” she said. “Most importantly, Zohran will be a mayor for all of us!”
Then came the religious leaders, helmed by Imam Khalid Latif: “Let New York . . . continue to show that dignity, respect and compassion are no longer for the few but for all!” Then Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who declared that “systems entrenched at the top” are the reason why “so many New Yorkers have too little.”
Last came Senator Bernie Sanders, there to administer the oath of office to the new mayor. Sanders’s speech congratulated him for taking on “some enormously wealthy oligarchs, defeating them “in the biggest political upset in modern American history.”
The subtext is not very subtle. On January 1, 2026, New York became a city “for all”—not, as it had been, a city governed in the interests of a power elite of billionaires, real-estate “speculators,” financiers, and the like. Mamdani’s swearing in marks what he promises will be “a new era” of governance, in which the public will be enlightened by socialism and politicians will intervene to improve our lives. Indeed, Mamdani explicitly promised such intervention against the city’s landlords mere hours after his swearing in.
The anti-elite diagnosis, of course, is not completely off the mark. Many of the city’s current problems—high rents, crime, homelessness, and food prices—are the result of an elite’s abuse of power.
But it’s not the elite Mamdani campaigned against. Rather, it’s the elite of previous public officials, who also promised to “remake New York.” They, too, arrived touting good intentions and big expectations and saw their electoral majorities as mandates to pass laws to “improve New Yorkers’ lives.”
The results include: statutes outlawing denser housing construction in most of the city—compounded by rent-stabilization laws that push thousands of apartments into disrepair—and billions spent on homeless programs. All this has driven higher rent burdens across the city.
Good intentions also created childcare regulations stricter than in most other jurisdictions, absurd liability laws on construction that don’t exist elsewhere, and some of the nation’s highest taxes. The elite—old and new—offers the same solution: higher taxes on the “1 percent,” which many of the wealthy won’t pay: they’re already fleeing the city.
For those who believe that New York City should reward excellence and provide opportunities, not hand-outs, Mamdani’s inauguration was a bracing experience. But will his policies succeed—even by their own metrics?
“There are people who are rooting for New York to fail,” Williams said in his speech. “They want to be right in their cynicism more than they want us to succeed in our idealism.”
No one should root for New York to fail. Its residents, and even America, depend on its success. But it’s not cynicism to believe that Mamdani’s agenda—the same one the state’s leaders have been pursuing for over a decade—will only make things worse. That’s just realism.
It does not seem he ever had a regular job and now he seems to have all the answers. An extreme example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
socialism is a two class society and you are not the ruling class................
“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously.
It entertains me to watch NYC. All of the people whining now, where were they during the election process? It seems all those Democrat supporting media types, and billionaires wanted another Dem mayor. I think they were unpleasantly surprised that Dem turned out to be a muslim communist.
As for the people of NYC... screw you. You asked for this and I will enjoy watching you get what you asked for.
I’m rooting for this guy. I want him to give the left wingers living in NYC the government that they crave.
“Today begins a new era” that will look like the old era of the late 60s and early 1970s. Destruction everywhere. Watch Fort Apache: The Bronx to see what NYC will again go through.
I hope the Noo Yawkers enjoy what they voted for, and what’s coming to them starting immediately. Have fun with that. The rest of us will watch the collapse we know is inevitable. Please pass the popcorn.
Mamdani is going to dye his hair green, I just know it.
I wonder if any group is monitoring the U-Haul, Mayflower, Bekins, etc., comings and goings on the main highways at the NYC lines.
With Collective Warmth,
Hamas City Services Agency..
To be fair, the public elected him. The public deserves everything he brings. Good and hard, too.
A government big enough to give you all you need is big enough to take all you have.
“I wonder if any group is monitoring the U-Haul, Mayflower, Bekins, etc., comings and goings on the main highways at the NYC lines.”
Those that can leave, likely will leave, but I suspect that’s a very tiny number. Most people in NYC are bound there due to a job, family, or not having the means to move. I heard this discussed last night: Tourism is where NYC will begin to feel the pain more immediately. My wife would like to visit NYC, she’s never been. Right now, I wouldn’t go to NYC on a bad bet.
Ah yes, the warmth of Collectivism. Solzhenitsyn: “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive.”
Great minds...
“in the biggest political upset in modern American history.”
TDS got this ass elected. He’s seen by his voters as the anti-Trump. Anger. Rage. Hate. They’ve cut their own throats but have no clue.
Lots of police and fire retirements coming, I’ll bet.
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