The Formula Works

The organization is not a political party nor is it national, but it is totally political and was designed forty years ago not to be socialist but to keep the Democratic Party in New York as “left” as possible. Its founder, a socialist and close colleague of America’s singular socialist Norman Thomas, believed America would never be socialist.

He died before making his Democratic Socialists viable and participant and so it spent almost forty years in silence. But time and good fortune helped launch its existence not in New York but in Washington, DC.

A former Brooklyn boy had moved to Burlington, Vermont recognizing that the line to join the New York Democratic Party was too long with no room for him.

Bernie Sanders served as Mayor of Burlington for four terms and then went to Congress eventually ending up as a Senator when he immediately established his independence from the Democrat Party by announcing he was a Democratic Socialist. Few paid any attention because he almost always voted with the Democrats or remained silent.

That changed when almost as a whim, he decided to run in the Democratic primary for President of the United States against then New York Senator Hillary Clinton even though she had all but clinched the nomination before he made his first announcement.

That declaration was full of powerful statements about how America had abandoned its liberal, New Deal policies which followed World War 11 and produced the World’s first actual middle class. Working people could begin to live with some of the advantages of the rich and powerful who had founded this nation and written its Constitution.

Sanders hammered at the conservative success of Ronald Reagan’s two terms as President and at how America had twisted itself back to focusing on markets and money and not on what it had become – the land of opportunity for people all over the World.

The Democratic Party in the years following the War wanted to improve public institutions rather than destroying them; wanted to carry forward the basic elements of the American experiment: liberal democracy, a pluralistic society with free markets regulated in the public interest rather than in the interests of the few.

Calling himself and his movement ‘progressive,’ Bernie was telling growing audiences that we had abandoned all of that as Ronald Reagan’s eight years had finally wiped away any influence of FDR’s New Deal philosophies and practices.

Suddenly America was listening – but none more the youngest Americans who began flocking to his appearances eating up messages that sounded unfamiliar to them because America’s once successful public school system no longer taught what it had been teaching for a century – history, social studies and civics.

As he moved from city to city across America, Bernie was talking about the capitalist system which had taken government’s inherent power from the people and had given it to the moneyed. Now while this had always been true, Bernie made it sound fresh and powerful and urgent and vitally important.

His solutions sounded exciting…give the country back to all Americans and let the government – which had the money and power to provide unlimited opportunities – make everybody equally important and valuable.

Too young to have lived through the New Deal and unfamiliar with its history, this was new, exciting and seemed so very right.

No one ever called Bernie a socialist. Bernie never used the word. He had simply captured America’s young people and although he never became the Democratic Party’s Presidential nominee, he made impressions on America’s young people far grander than those who did.

That strident, insistent anti-establishment message was one the Democratic Socialists believed in and suddenly there was life in what had been silence. Bernie never ever waved their flag

But it did inspire them to find a local New York candidate who might run a successful race for a political position – and actually win. And they found that person – a young woman – from Yorktown Heights in northern Westchester, who was working as a bartender having graduated from Boston College and needing a job.

She was tiny, curvy, with a big smile and sharp black eyes and “had a mouth” on her and nerve and energy and entered politics enthusiastically….smiling all the way. The Democratic Socialists told her she was going to run against a longtime Congressman representing parts of Queens and the Bronx – Congressman Joe Crowley and that they had a flock of 10,000 volunteers who would accompany her to one section of Crowley’s territory – Maspeth, Queens – where they would knock of every door in the community and talk politics with everyone they could find who would listen. Whether there actually were 10,000 volunteers or not is moot – they were all over Maspeth.

At the time, Crowley was involved with two projects: appointing a new chair for the NY City Council and doing his best to get Nancy Pelosi’s job as Speaker of the House.

Those efforts and his immediate dismissal of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez as a primary candidate against him, kept him from ever once campaigning for the job he had held for so long. And that little oversight cost him his seat in Congress and after a short time as a lobbyist, he left the political scene entirely.

AOC was now in Congress and in a short time led a small group of new women in Congress with strong so-called progressive views of what must take place – a change which would see government return to policies which offered genuine opportunities to those who worked to enter what was left of the remaining middle class.

The group of young Congresswomen was dubbed “The Squad”. Despite the occasional stunning statement or demand, the Squad was never called “socialist.”

When AOC entered politics we heard her stumble through an explanation of the three parts of national government: the Legislative, Judicial and Executive. But because there is little for Congress to do, she has had time and opportunity over the years to learn quite a bit more about government than she knew when elected.

She spends time whenever she can in Bernie’s entourage going to various rallies and uses her strong, twangy voice to support his comments, thoughts and opinions.

[There is media buzz that she will try to unseat Democratic Senator and leader Chuck Schumer as Senator from New York… buzz is about all current media can bring to the public.]

The Democratic Socialists had found their model and after several years of consideration they used it again: this time to help elect the Mayor of New York.

WHAT IS ZOHRAN MAMDANI

Mistitled? Could be “Who is Zohran Mamdani”?

Consider what we know about New York City’s Mayor-elect…then let’s decide.

He is 34 years old and spent his first seven years living in Uganda as a citizen of that country. His Father is Ugandan, his Mother is a brilliant film producer from India.

In Uganda, gay people have been killed because they are gay.

In India’s caste system, there are 160 million Dalits a term synonymous with the term Untouchables…a political identity they have chosen themselves. Dalits means oppressed and highlights the persecution and discrimination they face regularly and have for centuries. The Dalits are those men who earn a living by stripping naked, covering themselves with oil and going into India’s sewers to clean them of human waste.

Once upon a time, the Catholic Church, before the disgrace they have known in recent years, used to say give me a child until he is seven and he is ours forever.

Although living in New York since the age of seven, Mr. Mamdani did not become an American citizen until he was 26 years old – obviously so that he could become a candidate for the New York State Assembly from his Queens neighborhood. He had tried other ways of earning a living that weren’t working. And so, politics.

All of which is the background explanation for his victory statement made late on Election night. Standing alone without family and campaign team around him – the usual group which surrounds all candidates – winners and losers – Mr. Mamdani made a fierce campaign speech very much along the lines of his campaign –but in full voice, almost angry, without the familiar and endless smile.

The tone and the words came from a young man who had made a spectacular entry into New York’s political scene while defeating a very weak band of Democratic candidates as well as one Republican candidate who looked uptight, and never had a chance of winning any election as a Republican in NYC.

And then for the first time in more than 20 minutes he flashed that very immigrant smile – because that is exactly what it is…an immigrant’s smile of friendliness assuring one that all is well and appreciated – especially when language barriers make genuine words and feelings difficult to express..

America is a country which depends on its immigrants and this is true whether we fiercely guard our borders, attempt to throw so-called illegals out of the country or open our borders incorrectly, perhaps even stupidly as we did during the Biden years.

It was believed that Mr. Mamdani won the Mayoralty because of the support of the young people who turned out in droves to vote for him. But a look at the election map that was published the following morning indicated that his victory came from his outstanding effort in all those areas of New York where immigrants live and work.

When he met and talked to South Asians and others of the Muslim faith from a wide range of countries from that World, he often spoke in their languages. His focus was on immigrants because his life as an immigrant drove his every effort. He said so quite eloquently in his Election night speech.

So we know what Mr. Mamdani believes he is. We do not yet know what kind of administration he will build to manage New York’s many challenges.

We know he has no experience to match the demands of the job. But we don’t know who will help him do that managing and we don’t know whether he will have the inherent skills to go way beyond his inexperience.

Here’s what we do know. Political interests around the country, concerned that both national political parties seem weak and going nowhere, have stressed Mr. Mamdani’s “socialist message” and don’t believe the Democratic Party should go in that direction.

In fact, his six basic programs are not socialist at all. He is trying to use the government to right the increasing strains of affordability that exist in New York City. He is asking for a major amount of money to make these corrections and expects that he will find it if Governor Hochul and the State Government will impose a 2% income tax hike on those who can afford one.

That may or may not be a wall too high to climb for the Governor who will be involved in a fierce fight for the Governorship in just a few months and then for an entire year from today.

Will Mamdani know how to deal with it if she chooses not to try to impose that income tax? He has already been told that she cannot and will not support free buses…one of the key promises he has made. The cost to the MTA, the independent agency which controls public transportation in NYC, will be $700 million a year which they will not approve.

The cost of free day care to all New Yorkers which the Governor does like, will be $15 billion a year and without a 2% tax on rich New Yorkers that will be difficult to maintain.

Does the new Mayor- to- be know how little control a Mayor of New York has on just the events that he is planning to initiate?

Comfortable with him or not, the era of calling him a new face for the Democratic Party makes little sense when you know that he voted for himself on the Working Families ballot line, not the Democratic Party’s line.

So, he is not genuinely a socialist, though he may think so – and he is certainly not a Democrat though he may say so.

But he is a new face and voice with a large and vigorous support group. No one has any clue about his choices for a cabinet though we know that he has admitted knowing nothing about education – and that alone is stunning for a Mayor who controls education in NYC.

We are guessing that his transition group – which features six women and no men – is an indication that he may not be comfortable surrounded by a group of men many years his senior though he will be with women. It will be interesting and revealing now that we know that despite his enthusiastic support, NYC’s Comptroller will not be part of his administration because Brad Lander is talking about running for Congress.

We join all New Yorkers in hoping that our new Mayor will have the skills to bring New York something it has not always experienced: honesty and ability in its Democratic Mayors. There are problems and challenges ahead – but that’s the job.

Our best wishes for success Mr. Mayor and mazel tov.