As to why so many supposed “Americans” can turn to an ideology so diametrically opposed to Americanism, and what can be done to stop it, that is a discussion for another time.
Well, this is the time.
From CNN’s Democratic socialism, according to Zohran Mamdani
There’s a fair amount of confusion and fear generated in the US by the term “socialist,” which is associated with repressive societies like Communist China, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR, North Korea or Cuba.
Communism, as expressed in “The Communist Manifesto,” supports the idea that there will be a class war in which private property and the means of production are seized for the public good. Think “Animal Farm.”
Democratic socialism does not support the notion of a class war and instead pursues socialist goals through democratic means.
“And,” Mamdani says, “I think ultimately, the definition for me of why I call myself a democratic socialist is the words of Dr. [Martin Luther] King decades ago. He said, call it democracy or call it democratic socialism. There must be a better distribution of wealth for all of god’s children in this country.” [sic]
Note that Mamdani does not repudiate the idea that “private property and the means of production are seized for the public good.” A government that can seize the means of production—all businesses, land, jobs, investments, etc.—is a totalitarian state. He just thinks that it should be done by “democratic means.” Does it matter? No. Whether by violent class war or “peaceful” elections, tyranny is still tyranny. But what principles justify such a criminal system? Yes, socialism attracts the seekers of the unearned, the envious, the powerlusters, the haters of the good. Those types have always existed. But what enabling factors bring these scoundrels into power?
Equality
Democracy
Altruism
Equality is unnatural. Human life is fundamentally individual. Each of us billions of people are unique, and so in a free society individual outcomes and conditions will naturally vary widely. Inequality is the iron law of human nature. When you hear economic inequality being presented as a problem for the government to “solve,” you are encountering a rebellion against nature itself. Thus, to get any kind of equality of outcome or condition, such as “a better distribution of wealth,” the state must have totalitarian power over everyone’s lives, work, earnings and wealth. Note the precision of the Founding Fathers: The Declaration of Independence does not say “All men are equal.” It says “All men are CREATED equal”—meaning only at birth, equally free TO PURSUE their own values, goals, fortunes and happiness based on the rights to life and liberty, and to own whatever they achieve. But socialists believe life conditions, not individual rights, must be equal. There is no value in such equalities of outcome—which contradicts human nature—and no justice. If socialists are to be stopped, it is this version of equality that must be challenged and repudiated, because such a violation of natural law can only be imposed by at the point of ba gun.
Democracy is a manifestation of totalitarianism. It holds that elected officials can do whatever they please with everyone's lives and properties and for whatever goals they deem desirable. But do not confuse Democracy as a social system with the democratic process. in a free society like America’s, elections decide on political leaders, but the government’s powers are limited to protecting individual rights, and thus everyone’s freedom and properties are protected from schemes such as Mamdani’s. America is a constitutionally limited Republic with a democratic PROCESS, not a Democracy. If the Mamdanis and his ilk are to be stopped, it is Democracy that must be challenged and repudiated.
Altruism is the moral theory that every individual is duty-bound to self-sacrificially serve the needs of others before himself. That morality is the heart, the soul, and the justification of socialism. That’s why it’s called SOCIALism; you owe your life to the collective, not to yourself. Capitalism is based on the opposite, the morality of rational self-interest, which holds that the individual has a moral right to make his own life the best it can be as long as he respects the same moral rights of others. This is the meaning of the most individualist political phrase ever, the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To its glory, that is the heart and soul of Capitalism.
Politically, the difference between Socialism and Capitalism is the difference between a totalitarian state and a free, rights-protecting government—in other words, between a Communist China, USSR, North Korea or Cuba, and a United States of America. To protect a free America from a Socialist America, be it Communist or Mamdani-style Democratic Socialist, it is Equality, Democracy, and Altruism that we must recognize as evil, and thoroughly repudiate.
If you think I am overstating Mamdani’s danger, then here’s more.
From Reason’s Mamdani Teaming Up With Lina Khan Paints a Grim Picture of What's To Come
During his victory speech, Mamdani—a democratic socialist—opined that there's "no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about."
That's a disturbingly totalitarian view of the role of the state.
Indeed. That mindset puts every aspect of our lives in the crosshairs of our government. The Washington Post elaborates in Zohran Mamdani drops the mask
The mayor-elect divides New Yorkers into two groups: the oppressed and their oppressors.
A new era of class warfare has begun in New York, and no one is more excited than Generalissimo Zohran Mamdani. Witness the mayor-elect’s change of character since his Tuesday election victory.
Mamdani ran an upbeat campaign, with a nice-guy demeanor and perpetual smile papering over a long history of divisive and demagogic statements. New Yorkers periodically checking in on politics could understandably believe that he simply wanted to bring the city together and make it more affordable. That interpretation became much harder after his victory speech.
Across 23 angry minutes laced with identity politics and seething with resentment, Mamdani abandoned his cool disposition and made clear that his view of politics isn’t about unity. It isn’t about letting people build better lives for themselves. It is about identifying class enemies — from landlords who take advantage of tenants to “the bosses” who exploit workers — and then crushing them. His goal is not to increase wealth but to dole it out to favored groups. The word “growth” didn’t appear in the speech, but President Donald Trump garnered eight mentions.
People’s lives, in Mamdani’s world, can be improved only by government: “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.” The crowd cheered, of course, but a thinking person might wonder whether it’s good for the institution that has a monopoly on violence to insist that nothing is beyond its purview.
Mamdani says he’s not a Marxist. But this is pure Marxism
Now, here’s more from CNN’s Democratic socialism, according to Zohran Mamdani
Mamdani quoted the most famous American socialist, Eugene Debs, in his acceptance speech Tuesday night and talked about doing more for “working people” as opposed to the rich.
It’s worth reading a bit more from Debs’ remarks.
DEBS: I believe, Your Honor, in common with all Socialists, that this nation ought to own and control its own industries. I believe, as all Socialists do, that all things that are jointly needed and used ought to be jointly owned — that industry, the basis of our social life, instead of being the private property of a few and operated for their enrichment, ought to be the common property of all, democratically administered in the interest of all…
I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.
Given that Capitalist fortunes are made by brilliant entrepreneurs providing values to millions and millions of average consumers—the people who work the jobs created by the talented fortune builders—it’s shocking that Debbs and his ilk are not radicals for Capitalism. But of course, common to all socialists is envy, powerlust, and hatred of productive achievers. They don’t give a damn about the “millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives.”
It’s that notion of seizing the means of production to which Mamdani’s fiercest critics have pointed. In comments he made on a recorded session for student activists with Young Democratic Socialists of America in 2021, he said that was the “end goal” of socialists like him.
The “end goal”—totalitarianism. This is Marxism. This is Communism. This is Zohran Mamdani. This is what is taking hold in America, under the brand Democratic Socialism.
I rest my case.
Related Reading:
The Passion of Socialists by Craig Biddle
Democratic Socialism: The Left Escalates America’s Journey to Totalitarianism
Socialism vs. Welfare Statism: Why These Terms Matter
Democratic Socialism: The Rise of the Pigs
Socialism's Totalitarian Nature Cannot Be Obscured by 'Democratic Socialism'
Democracy Fundamentalism vs. Americanism
A Socialist Confirms that the Basics of ‘True’ Socialism is Totalitarianism
The Myth of the Ill-Informed, Well-Intentioned Socialist
What is Capitalism? By Ayn Rand
