A so-called “radical socialist” (read: communist) just won a major NYC primary—with overwhelming support from young voters. This isn’t a fluke. It’s the result of decades of ideological capture in our schools. Here’s how it happened—and what liberty-loving parents and educators must do next.
I agree that unbalanced leftist ideas hold way too much sway in today's educational establishment, as illustrated by the use of the charlatan Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States, which portrays practically everything in America history as the result of devious, self-interested machinations by venal, dishonest wealthy and powerful people. One of the major problems in combatting this thinking today is that our current President is the most venal, dishonest, devious amoral human being to ever take office in the United States. When people reelect a guy who for the first time in the history of the Republic refused to cooperate in the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimate election, young people naturally are going to doubt of the sincerity of the commitment to our Nation's ideals. My dad volunteered and served in WWII so I am not going to let Trump ruin American ideals for me, but it's a much harder sell to young people today who can see only the venality of the man now at the top (and the craven capitulation to him of people who should know better).
Trump cologne or perfume anyone? How about some Trump crypto?
Sadly many will only learn through personal pain. Communism will deliver the pain and oppression, it always has, when experienced it will be learn the hard way. Education should be putting forward the various economic systems so students are educated. No system is perfect, but which one offers the best outcomes. We have a mixed economy, it is not pure capitalism. When a mixed economy is kept in balance all can benefit.
I took a long cab ride in Bulgaria back in 2003. The driver was very talkative, fascinating to listen to his " lived experience" ( that's a good term ) - his account of growing up under USSR rule was enlightening to say the least. Everyone who thinks extreme statism is a good idea should speak with this man, or someone like him. Another was my drill instructor in the Army, who grew up under Castro in Cuba. He was the biggest hater of communism I've ever seen.
I actually believe that a mixed economy is inherently unstable. It does not work with human nature, but against it by forcing two contradictory things (free markets and state control) to "work together in balance." It will go one direction or the other. The goal should be to limit state control as much as possible to protect freedom. You have to optimize for freedom, not state control.
Indeed, and the state is like a Casino--it always wins b/c it has the power to make the rules of the game. Thus, the only way for individuals to win is NOT TO PLAY.
To the best of our ability as individuals, we have to operate outside the state, and that's getting increasingly difficult; they involve themselves in our lives by virtue of the way they've taken over the "means of production" of all that we need already. The regulatory, administrative state comes at us from the moment we're born, unless we are Amish, and even then, they still try.
But to me, this is why we shouldn't BEG for their involvement through "public" education or vouchers and other "public" financing of education. Might as well ask to be surveilled, and have your children surveilled, every day of your lives, in perpetuity, and to have the state intimately involved in how those lives are likely to go.
That doesn't seem like a value for value trade to me.
One of the most infuriating things about the progressive approach is this...
Their policies make things worse, but they never attribute their policies to the problems that result. They are (selectively perhaps?) blind to the possible connection and keep assuming that if the problem has not gone away, then the solution is more progressive policies, not less. They can always point to a handful of pro-free-market policies that might not have worked perfectly or hand-wave over some previous Republican president as being REALLY to blame, etc.
The worse things get, the more they think more progressive policies will work, and things get even worse, and then more progressive policies are needed, and so on.
When the book The War on Prices explained what batshit Modern Monetary Theory was, that was about what killed the last shred of confidence I had in any kind of economic recovery. MMT is literally this diving-for-the-bottom pattern disguised as economics.
Education as it stands today lacks time for authentic contemplation of pretty much anything (which requires time not available in today’s test-centric classrooms). The focus seems to be more about providing bragging rights to the political and business class in an effort to promote economic objectives (hence testing which leads to rankings) or social engineering than in genuine academic pursuits.
“The society that loses its grip on the past is in danger, for it produces men who know nothing but the present, and who are not aware that life has been, and could be, different from what it is. Such men bear tyranny easily, for they have nothing with which to compare it.” -T.J. Saunders
It is definitely a slow creep. I'd even go so far as to say we already have a pretty socialist system here right now. State intervention exists in nearly every aspect of our lives already.
I can’t agree more. This is blatantly apparent when we look not just at the current events, as you do so well, but when we look at the history.
If I may, I encourage y’all to check out this post on Robert Owen, the earliest socialist to work in the USA, when socialism wasn’t a bad thing. His socialist communities failed, but his message won out.
The other factor re young turn - there is such rampant voter registration fraud we truly have no way of determining what the actual demographic is. If the socialists have wrested control of the voting cycle with faux registrations on campus, they have sealed up the elections. In 2022 in Michigan the media showed us long line on campuses with kids “registering” and immediately after the election they gaslit everyone that the “yutes” were the factor that put Gov Folder Face Whitmer back in office. Four months later they retracted those stories.
We have a cycle of lies in education, in media, in politics. And it’s creating and endless supply of useful idiots as they inculcate our kids.
NYC is home to over 120 separate colleges and universities. The city university of NY (CUNY, a notoriously antisemitic institution, btw) spans 25 unique colleges across the five boroughs. Columbia University alone has 33,000 students-- undergrad and graduate combined--and a reasonable estimate is that only 10-15% of that 33,000 are PERMANENT residents of NYC (of just that ONE school -- now consider all the other schools in the city). They are ALL allowed to vote if they are over 18 and citizens.
The passed a law in 2022 that allows students to vote where they go to school instead of getting an absentee ballot. So the possibility of double voting has increased. And when you think of it, absentee ballots allowing the fraud to proceed undetected - once that ballot is separated from the envelope, there’s now way to determine the origin. Pam Bondi needs to wake up and go after the low hanging fruit that ABOUNDS regarding the maladminstration, and at a minimum make people famous for having a head in destroying election integrity.
100%, this is happening. I know b/c I voted twice when I was 18 (in CT and ME) not even realizing it was wrong. I was ENCOURAGED to do so by every adult I knew, my own father included. It was 1986.
I know zero about the politics of NYC, but my intuition is the blue- blood powerful elites with not be concerned in the least by this probable temporary state of further left leaning. If I'm wrong, I'd like to be educated.
I'm not so sure of that. The turnout for youth was very high, but the overall turnout was extremely low. He's gotten their attention, and they're shitting themselves. If they show up to vote against him, he loses.
This bodes very ill for the future of the republic and underlines the importance of the Trump Administration’s pushback on the Marxist capture of the educational system.
Perhaps as these students age and gain real-world experience they will be disabused of these toxic notions by the school of hard knocks.
Perhaps in that sense, the election of Mamdani is a blessing in disguise because his policies will inevitably fail.
However, as you note, Marxists are very stubborn and will probably chalk it up as yet another case of their ideology not being properly implemented.
Well that's great George, but ARI is also promoting government financed School Choice, so they've lost me as an organization. I'm very sad about it, but there's no compromise with evil for me, and that's what this move represents.
If you're wondering how I know: last week, Samantha Hawkins hosted a podcast on ARI's X feed with Matt Bateman, who was from Higher Ground (Ray Girn's schools that failed) and is now with GT Schools, an Alpha School (AI 2 hour-model monstrosity), He not only said he believes School Choice VOUCHERS (taxpayer funded) makes parents "freer" he somehow believes b/c the "intentions" of those involved on the ground (parents, teachers) are GOOD, all will be well and the gov't overreach won't be an issue-- dropping all context and immorality of the program's obvious socialist structure in the process.
Neither he nor Samantha defended laissez-faire solutions and both defended this as a step in the right direction, without any explanation as to why THESE subsidies are somehow exempt from Rand's views on gov't subsidies and redistribution.
It is a very sad week for me indeed b/c I never in my wildest nightmares thought I would see two obvious non-objectivists under the ARI banner selling socialism.
Tomorrow evening Aquinas Heard and I will be hosting an X space to discuss this development, and our arguments against their position, at 7 PM. I'd love it if you could listen in and spread the word. https://x.com/i/spaces/1yNGaLBleajKj
Brilliant observations, much like I've come to expect from your sub-stack. Thank you once again for being able to cut through the subjective, pragmatic and reality-detached noise that seems to come from everywhere lately.
Compulsory state-funded/administered "education" is indeed the United States' largest and most perverse enigma. How a country whose very existence came from a rejection of the authoritarian violation of individual rights could have democratically embraced the insane authoritarian ideal of forced monopolistic state "education" is an aberration that I simply cannot and will never comprehend.
I just hold onto the hope that once this disaster reaches its inevitable conclusion, there will be a principled 100% rejection of any rights-violation which guides the new objective & rational individuals who take on the rebuilding of society from the ashes of this one.
Let's start with the false premise of this article. I won't dispute that schools have lost their edge in creating a space that facilitates balanced thinking on important civic issue, but the claim that these are homogeneous spaces of indoctrinating towards communist thinking is a broad brush and it is false.
I think generally, communism has a certain appeal to the majority of youth, I certainly, naively felt an appeal to it when I was younger, but wised up as I got older.
Secondly, Momdani's appeal, isn't totally based on one's communist leanings but to the fact that there was more authenticity to his campaign than to the other candidates that engaged in false virtue signaling, something that has plagued the left for so long. And he is speaking to the poorer classes that find it challenging to come to grips with the disparity of wealth that exists between rich and poor.
I think you may have reedamble arguments somewhere beneath the thick layer of moral panic lathered throughout this piece, but for me, it's the same old right wing song.
"Authenticity?" The man is the son of wealthy people and attended a $60K/year private school. He then went to an expensive private college that costs upwards of $90K/year. His only "work" experience outside of politics directly has been Housing Counselor and Hip Hop Artist. IOW, he's a professional activist and politician from an ultra wealthy family agitating young people who are scared for their futures (rightfully so), and utterly ignorant as to the consequences of his proposals because they've never been taught history properly.
I stand by what I said. It was not "authenticity" it was more likely relatability. He's personable/affable, especially if you're scared and easily manipulated into believing all your fears and problems are SOMEONE ELSE'S FAULT. He offers them an easy way out: TAKE FROM OTHERS.
Calling that "authenticity" is borderline offensive. He's literally lying to them, though given his own background, I'm not entirely convinced he knows he's lying (except about his antisemitism -- he's definitely lying about that. The guy is a big time jew hater, trying desperately to hide it, and failing).
I take your point on authenticity. I agree it's more relatability. He speaks to something that resonates with his voters. Exactly what Trump does with Red America when dealing with the false elitism of the left.
I also agree that Trump is an equally empty-suit who offers (ironically) FASCISTIC solutions to real problems. A pox on both their houses. Right wing I am not.
I’m curious about what you see as fascistic tendencies connected to Trump. I tend to be able to debate with people that are neither right wing nor left-wing but rather classical liberals. they are able to have discussions and debates. I see lots of things that Trump is doing that are constitutional and I see lots of things that the Democrats are doing that are unconstitutional, but I poke at both. I’m definitely interested in hearing your response to the fascistic tendencies you believe Trump has.
His deportation policy insofar as the raids are being carried out and the people are being treated is an abomination. There is enforcing the law, and there is trolling and terrifying the people, needlessly, and that is what his administration is doing. Just this week, an American citizen was literally thrown to the ground by men in plain clothes and cuffed behind her back on her way into work. It was a mistake, but as she defended herself (who wouldn't) she struck one of the "officers" and is now being charged with obstructing an arrest--an arrest that should not have been happening, and which would terrify anyone, but ok sure whatever.
Then this week the White House X account tweeted a video of a plane being readied for deportation flight, complete with shackles and chains and billed as ASMR, as if people would want to relax or fall asleep to the sound of people being carted off and sent out of the country. Even if they were ALL MS13 members, this is immature and unnecessary, but when you consider they are not--some are people who have lived here 20 and 30 years, paid taxes, minded their own business, and in some cases, showed up for EVERY immigration meeting they had while they either waited for hearings or decisions about their asylum claims, it's barbaric, and yes, facistic.
But besides that, his economic policy is disgusting. Tariffs are a tax on the people, but rather than own that, he has threatened companies as large as Wal-Mart, telling them how they should "eat" the cost of the tariffs, "THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER," he writes. Or what, Mr. President? OR WHAT?
Finally, the School Choice policy he is about to sign into law at the federal level would put the US Dept of the Treasury in a position of power over scholarship awarding organizations if they are claiming tax deductions, and he is incentivizing states to pass school choice legislation by tying that to federal funding.
Trump is taking as many steps as he possibly can to exert influence over private entities using taxpayer money and threats of regulation, and that plus his heavy-handed state aggression against individuals without due process, is fascistic.
as Victor Davis Hanson says this is a counterrevolution not a revolution. I think Trump always has trouble identifying exactly where the swamp is and how to drain it, but I don’t really think his ideas are bad mostly just his strategies. They’ll figure it out. Action leads to improved action. he absolutely needs to diversify the opportunities for education I mean the indoctrination factories that we’ve created are despicable - talk about fascism. it looks like the tariffs are working to get other people‘s tariffs off our backs so I can’t argue with him about that. I am surprised that they didn’t have a more orderly way to go about deportations, but he got the border close so I give him an A+ for that. I think he has some more policy directions that are going to appeal to me. Remember that I live in Seattle, a blue city a failed policy. My mind’s wide open as a moderate liberal. I’ll hope for the best but I’m definitely not voting for the PMS wing anytime soon. (Progressive- Marxist- Socialist). i’m more of a limited government personal responsibility kind of person. That’s how I think we keep the freedom alive. The Democrats seem to have lost side of that with their control and dependency paradigm.
With this I agree. I did try--perhaps not clearly or with strong enough criticism for those who've put them in this position--to include mention of the very real problem of unreasonable expectations heaped upon these kids by the adult world that is supposed to be preparing them to live in REALITY. I also have no problem with teaching both Marxism and Capitalism b/c I have faith Capitalism, taught objectively, will win out, but when you omit the negatives of Marxism from the curriculum entirely, or go further and talk it and it's alleged "heroes" up as freedom-fighters, despite the body count resulting from their ideas, AND demonize capitalism (which is what happens in today's K12 classrooms --I've spent more than 30 years watching this, I'm not just making shit up), you end up with this twisted perception that what he offers is not only moral and without negative consequences (at least to anyone you've been told is a "good person" or "victim"), it's THE ANSWER.
Every rational person should see it as a moral panic when a communist with a soft spot for Jihadis comes this close to running one of our largest cities, with one of our largest ports and financial centers (and Jewish populations).
Communism, or if you prefer, it's "praxis" name, "Socialism," is EVIL, pure evil, which means it's immoral. Why would someone of principle NOT panic?
This substack is a time warp back to the McCarthy era. The extreme paranoia about communism, the pointless fear that the most dominant and successful system in the USA: captitalism is going to be blown to the wind because people in New York City chose someone who is addressing the shocking income inequality and increasing unaffordabilty of living in NYC for working people is just paranoid. There is no successful communist country in the world and everyone knows it! Russia is an authoritarian dictatorship and China is practicing state sponsored capitalism. Capitalism and markets have proven their worth but they are not perfect. People need to read Adam Smith and Friedman but also realize that his brand of neoliberalism is not a theory of economics that incorporates the latest insights and thinking about economics. They also need to read Keynes because Keynes is the first economist to go beyond classical economists like Smith. Read someone like Nobel winners Joseph Stiglitz or Angus Deaton who get capitalism but are able to suggest more progressive macroeconomic policies.
Malcolm X just needs to be read. He impressed conservative Alex Haley so much that they collaborated on his Autobiography. Please read it without prejudice, Malcom got a lot of bad press but he was an inspiring man who got true religious faith. Che and Angela Davis.. well I think in retrospect they went too far.
And I am not worried about the youth.. they are being taught well....😎
Would be a much more convincing analogy if the alternative wasn’t Cuomo. And what are the chances the republicans will put up a candidate that can translate this message into something the younger voters can get behind? But step one is not having the more business friendly democrat be a total POS.
Please provide links to actual textbooks and curricula. I live in Florida, and there is no way kids in Florida are being taught that. These are extreme woke leftist positions that are not remotely mainstream. Points 3 and 4 are basically true. And this is why we need to acknowledge the horrors of Jim Crow and how racist whites kept blacks from achieving real parity until the civil rights era. Consider how redlining was used to keep blacks from attaining real economic parity via housing. Inequalty for blacks in education was not remotely addressed until Brown vs Board of education.. And that took years to implement. All the other points are standard woke BS that only a few social justice warriors are trying to indoctrinate.
I agree that unbalanced leftist ideas hold way too much sway in today's educational establishment, as illustrated by the use of the charlatan Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States, which portrays practically everything in America history as the result of devious, self-interested machinations by venal, dishonest wealthy and powerful people. One of the major problems in combatting this thinking today is that our current President is the most venal, dishonest, devious amoral human being to ever take office in the United States. When people reelect a guy who for the first time in the history of the Republic refused to cooperate in the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimate election, young people naturally are going to doubt of the sincerity of the commitment to our Nation's ideals. My dad volunteered and served in WWII so I am not going to let Trump ruin American ideals for me, but it's a much harder sell to young people today who can see only the venality of the man now at the top (and the craven capitulation to him of people who should know better).
Trump cologne or perfume anyone? How about some Trump crypto?
You won't get an argument from me. He's a disgrace.
Sadly many will only learn through personal pain. Communism will deliver the pain and oppression, it always has, when experienced it will be learn the hard way. Education should be putting forward the various economic systems so students are educated. No system is perfect, but which one offers the best outcomes. We have a mixed economy, it is not pure capitalism. When a mixed economy is kept in balance all can benefit.
I took a long cab ride in Bulgaria back in 2003. The driver was very talkative, fascinating to listen to his " lived experience" ( that's a good term ) - his account of growing up under USSR rule was enlightening to say the least. Everyone who thinks extreme statism is a good idea should speak with this man, or someone like him. Another was my drill instructor in the Army, who grew up under Castro in Cuba. He was the biggest hater of communism I've ever seen.
I actually believe that a mixed economy is inherently unstable. It does not work with human nature, but against it by forcing two contradictory things (free markets and state control) to "work together in balance." It will go one direction or the other. The goal should be to limit state control as much as possible to protect freedom. You have to optimize for freedom, not state control.
Indeed, and the state is like a Casino--it always wins b/c it has the power to make the rules of the game. Thus, the only way for individuals to win is NOT TO PLAY.
To the best of our ability as individuals, we have to operate outside the state, and that's getting increasingly difficult; they involve themselves in our lives by virtue of the way they've taken over the "means of production" of all that we need already. The regulatory, administrative state comes at us from the moment we're born, unless we are Amish, and even then, they still try.
But to me, this is why we shouldn't BEG for their involvement through "public" education or vouchers and other "public" financing of education. Might as well ask to be surveilled, and have your children surveilled, every day of your lives, in perpetuity, and to have the state intimately involved in how those lives are likely to go.
That doesn't seem like a value for value trade to me.
One of the most infuriating things about the progressive approach is this...
Their policies make things worse, but they never attribute their policies to the problems that result. They are (selectively perhaps?) blind to the possible connection and keep assuming that if the problem has not gone away, then the solution is more progressive policies, not less. They can always point to a handful of pro-free-market policies that might not have worked perfectly or hand-wave over some previous Republican president as being REALLY to blame, etc.
The worse things get, the more they think more progressive policies will work, and things get even worse, and then more progressive policies are needed, and so on.
When the book The War on Prices explained what batshit Modern Monetary Theory was, that was about what killed the last shred of confidence I had in any kind of economic recovery. MMT is literally this diving-for-the-bottom pattern disguised as economics.
Education as it stands today lacks time for authentic contemplation of pretty much anything (which requires time not available in today’s test-centric classrooms). The focus seems to be more about providing bragging rights to the political and business class in an effort to promote economic objectives (hence testing which leads to rankings) or social engineering than in genuine academic pursuits.
“The society that loses its grip on the past is in danger, for it produces men who know nothing but the present, and who are not aware that life has been, and could be, different from what it is. Such men bear tyranny easily, for they have nothing with which to compare it.” -T.J. Saunders
So very true! Thank you for your comment.
Yes, my time at one of these institutions of higher hate mongering ended with a wealthy Japanese student calling me her "white oppressor."
I'm not at all surprised. How sad is that?
Linked in comments at my post Enablers of Mamdani: America's Universities
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/74475.html
It is definitely a slow creep. I'd even go so far as to say we already have a pretty socialist system here right now. State intervention exists in nearly every aspect of our lives already.
I can’t agree more. This is blatantly apparent when we look not just at the current events, as you do so well, but when we look at the history.
If I may, I encourage y’all to check out this post on Robert Owen, the earliest socialist to work in the USA, when socialism wasn’t a bad thing. His socialist communities failed, but his message won out.
https://open.substack.com/pub/whatschoolsforget/p/robert-owen-socialist-secularist?r=1amp6r&utm_medium=ios
The other factor re young turn - there is such rampant voter registration fraud we truly have no way of determining what the actual demographic is. If the socialists have wrested control of the voting cycle with faux registrations on campus, they have sealed up the elections. In 2022 in Michigan the media showed us long line on campuses with kids “registering” and immediately after the election they gaslit everyone that the “yutes” were the factor that put Gov Folder Face Whitmer back in office. Four months later they retracted those stories.
We have a cycle of lies in education, in media, in politics. And it’s creating and endless supply of useful idiots as they inculcate our kids.
NYC is home to over 120 separate colleges and universities. The city university of NY (CUNY, a notoriously antisemitic institution, btw) spans 25 unique colleges across the five boroughs. Columbia University alone has 33,000 students-- undergrad and graduate combined--and a reasonable estimate is that only 10-15% of that 33,000 are PERMANENT residents of NYC (of just that ONE school -- now consider all the other schools in the city). They are ALL allowed to vote if they are over 18 and citizens.
The passed a law in 2022 that allows students to vote where they go to school instead of getting an absentee ballot. So the possibility of double voting has increased. And when you think of it, absentee ballots allowing the fraud to proceed undetected - once that ballot is separated from the envelope, there’s now way to determine the origin. Pam Bondi needs to wake up and go after the low hanging fruit that ABOUNDS regarding the maladminstration, and at a minimum make people famous for having a head in destroying election integrity.
100%, this is happening. I know b/c I voted twice when I was 18 (in CT and ME) not even realizing it was wrong. I was ENCOURAGED to do so by every adult I knew, my own father included. It was 1986.
I know zero about the politics of NYC, but my intuition is the blue- blood powerful elites with not be concerned in the least by this probable temporary state of further left leaning. If I'm wrong, I'd like to be educated.
I'm not so sure of that. The turnout for youth was very high, but the overall turnout was extremely low. He's gotten their attention, and they're shitting themselves. If they show up to vote against him, he loses.
https://fortune.com/2025/06/26/bill-ackman-bankroll-nyc-mayoral-candidate-defeat-zohran-mamdani/
This bodes very ill for the future of the republic and underlines the importance of the Trump Administration’s pushback on the Marxist capture of the educational system.
Perhaps as these students age and gain real-world experience they will be disabused of these toxic notions by the school of hard knocks.
Perhaps in that sense, the election of Mamdani is a blessing in disguise because his policies will inevitably fail.
However, as you note, Marxists are very stubborn and will probably chalk it up as yet another case of their ideology not being properly implemented.
It is the altruist morality that must be relegated to the trash heap, and replaced with the morality of rational egoism.
This year the Ayn Rand Institute is promoting the concept of “freedom from altruism”, which is the piece of the puzzle that the founders did not have.
Well that's great George, but ARI is also promoting government financed School Choice, so they've lost me as an organization. I'm very sad about it, but there's no compromise with evil for me, and that's what this move represents.
If you're wondering how I know: last week, Samantha Hawkins hosted a podcast on ARI's X feed with Matt Bateman, who was from Higher Ground (Ray Girn's schools that failed) and is now with GT Schools, an Alpha School (AI 2 hour-model monstrosity), He not only said he believes School Choice VOUCHERS (taxpayer funded) makes parents "freer" he somehow believes b/c the "intentions" of those involved on the ground (parents, teachers) are GOOD, all will be well and the gov't overreach won't be an issue-- dropping all context and immorality of the program's obvious socialist structure in the process.
Neither he nor Samantha defended laissez-faire solutions and both defended this as a step in the right direction, without any explanation as to why THESE subsidies are somehow exempt from Rand's views on gov't subsidies and redistribution.
It is a very sad week for me indeed b/c I never in my wildest nightmares thought I would see two obvious non-objectivists under the ARI banner selling socialism.
Tomorrow evening Aquinas Heard and I will be hosting an X space to discuss this development, and our arguments against their position, at 7 PM. I'd love it if you could listen in and spread the word. https://x.com/i/spaces/1yNGaLBleajKj
Thank you for the information.
Brilliant observations, much like I've come to expect from your sub-stack. Thank you once again for being able to cut through the subjective, pragmatic and reality-detached noise that seems to come from everywhere lately.
Compulsory state-funded/administered "education" is indeed the United States' largest and most perverse enigma. How a country whose very existence came from a rejection of the authoritarian violation of individual rights could have democratically embraced the insane authoritarian ideal of forced monopolistic state "education" is an aberration that I simply cannot and will never comprehend.
I just hold onto the hope that once this disaster reaches its inevitable conclusion, there will be a principled 100% rejection of any rights-violation which guides the new objective & rational individuals who take on the rebuilding of society from the ashes of this one.
Let's start with the false premise of this article. I won't dispute that schools have lost their edge in creating a space that facilitates balanced thinking on important civic issue, but the claim that these are homogeneous spaces of indoctrinating towards communist thinking is a broad brush and it is false.
I think generally, communism has a certain appeal to the majority of youth, I certainly, naively felt an appeal to it when I was younger, but wised up as I got older.
Secondly, Momdani's appeal, isn't totally based on one's communist leanings but to the fact that there was more authenticity to his campaign than to the other candidates that engaged in false virtue signaling, something that has plagued the left for so long. And he is speaking to the poorer classes that find it challenging to come to grips with the disparity of wealth that exists between rich and poor.
I think you may have reedamble arguments somewhere beneath the thick layer of moral panic lathered throughout this piece, but for me, it's the same old right wing song.
"Authenticity?" The man is the son of wealthy people and attended a $60K/year private school. He then went to an expensive private college that costs upwards of $90K/year. His only "work" experience outside of politics directly has been Housing Counselor and Hip Hop Artist. IOW, he's a professional activist and politician from an ultra wealthy family agitating young people who are scared for their futures (rightfully so), and utterly ignorant as to the consequences of his proposals because they've never been taught history properly.
I stand by what I said. It was not "authenticity" it was more likely relatability. He's personable/affable, especially if you're scared and easily manipulated into believing all your fears and problems are SOMEONE ELSE'S FAULT. He offers them an easy way out: TAKE FROM OTHERS.
Calling that "authenticity" is borderline offensive. He's literally lying to them, though given his own background, I'm not entirely convinced he knows he's lying (except about his antisemitism -- he's definitely lying about that. The guy is a big time jew hater, trying desperately to hide it, and failing).
I take your point on authenticity. I agree it's more relatability. He speaks to something that resonates with his voters. Exactly what Trump does with Red America when dealing with the false elitism of the left.
I also agree that Trump is an equally empty-suit who offers (ironically) FASCISTIC solutions to real problems. A pox on both their houses. Right wing I am not.
I’m curious about what you see as fascistic tendencies connected to Trump. I tend to be able to debate with people that are neither right wing nor left-wing but rather classical liberals. they are able to have discussions and debates. I see lots of things that Trump is doing that are constitutional and I see lots of things that the Democrats are doing that are unconstitutional, but I poke at both. I’m definitely interested in hearing your response to the fascistic tendencies you believe Trump has.
His deportation policy insofar as the raids are being carried out and the people are being treated is an abomination. There is enforcing the law, and there is trolling and terrifying the people, needlessly, and that is what his administration is doing. Just this week, an American citizen was literally thrown to the ground by men in plain clothes and cuffed behind her back on her way into work. It was a mistake, but as she defended herself (who wouldn't) she struck one of the "officers" and is now being charged with obstructing an arrest--an arrest that should not have been happening, and which would terrify anyone, but ok sure whatever.
Then this week the White House X account tweeted a video of a plane being readied for deportation flight, complete with shackles and chains and billed as ASMR, as if people would want to relax or fall asleep to the sound of people being carted off and sent out of the country. Even if they were ALL MS13 members, this is immature and unnecessary, but when you consider they are not--some are people who have lived here 20 and 30 years, paid taxes, minded their own business, and in some cases, showed up for EVERY immigration meeting they had while they either waited for hearings or decisions about their asylum claims, it's barbaric, and yes, facistic.
But besides that, his economic policy is disgusting. Tariffs are a tax on the people, but rather than own that, he has threatened companies as large as Wal-Mart, telling them how they should "eat" the cost of the tariffs, "THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER," he writes. Or what, Mr. President? OR WHAT?
Finally, the School Choice policy he is about to sign into law at the federal level would put the US Dept of the Treasury in a position of power over scholarship awarding organizations if they are claiming tax deductions, and he is incentivizing states to pass school choice legislation by tying that to federal funding.
Trump is taking as many steps as he possibly can to exert influence over private entities using taxpayer money and threats of regulation, and that plus his heavy-handed state aggression against individuals without due process, is fascistic.
as Victor Davis Hanson says this is a counterrevolution not a revolution. I think Trump always has trouble identifying exactly where the swamp is and how to drain it, but I don’t really think his ideas are bad mostly just his strategies. They’ll figure it out. Action leads to improved action. he absolutely needs to diversify the opportunities for education I mean the indoctrination factories that we’ve created are despicable - talk about fascism. it looks like the tariffs are working to get other people‘s tariffs off our backs so I can’t argue with him about that. I am surprised that they didn’t have a more orderly way to go about deportations, but he got the border close so I give him an A+ for that. I think he has some more policy directions that are going to appeal to me. Remember that I live in Seattle, a blue city a failed policy. My mind’s wide open as a moderate liberal. I’ll hope for the best but I’m definitely not voting for the PMS wing anytime soon. (Progressive- Marxist- Socialist). i’m more of a limited government personal responsibility kind of person. That’s how I think we keep the freedom alive. The Democrats seem to have lost side of that with their control and dependency paradigm.
The difference is Trump
Loves America and wants everyone to prosper.
His personal feelings are irrelevant. His policies are not reflective of someone who loves liberty.
With this I agree. I did try--perhaps not clearly or with strong enough criticism for those who've put them in this position--to include mention of the very real problem of unreasonable expectations heaped upon these kids by the adult world that is supposed to be preparing them to live in REALITY. I also have no problem with teaching both Marxism and Capitalism b/c I have faith Capitalism, taught objectively, will win out, but when you omit the negatives of Marxism from the curriculum entirely, or go further and talk it and it's alleged "heroes" up as freedom-fighters, despite the body count resulting from their ideas, AND demonize capitalism (which is what happens in today's K12 classrooms --I've spent more than 30 years watching this, I'm not just making shit up), you end up with this twisted perception that what he offers is not only moral and without negative consequences (at least to anyone you've been told is a "good person" or "victim"), it's THE ANSWER.
Every rational person should see it as a moral panic when a communist with a soft spot for Jihadis comes this close to running one of our largest cities, with one of our largest ports and financial centers (and Jewish populations).
Communism, or if you prefer, it's "praxis" name, "Socialism," is EVIL, pure evil, which means it's immoral. Why would someone of principle NOT panic?
You said a lot while saying nothing, well done
Reading, it's fundamental.
You said nothing which says a lot.
This substack is a time warp back to the McCarthy era. The extreme paranoia about communism, the pointless fear that the most dominant and successful system in the USA: captitalism is going to be blown to the wind because people in New York City chose someone who is addressing the shocking income inequality and increasing unaffordabilty of living in NYC for working people is just paranoid. There is no successful communist country in the world and everyone knows it! Russia is an authoritarian dictatorship and China is practicing state sponsored capitalism. Capitalism and markets have proven their worth but they are not perfect. People need to read Adam Smith and Friedman but also realize that his brand of neoliberalism is not a theory of economics that incorporates the latest insights and thinking about economics. They also need to read Keynes because Keynes is the first economist to go beyond classical economists like Smith. Read someone like Nobel winners Joseph Stiglitz or Angus Deaton who get capitalism but are able to suggest more progressive macroeconomic policies.
Malcolm X just needs to be read. He impressed conservative Alex Haley so much that they collaborated on his Autobiography. Please read it without prejudice, Malcom got a lot of bad press but he was an inspiring man who got true religious faith. Che and Angela Davis.. well I think in retrospect they went too far.
And I am not worried about the youth.. they are being taught well....😎
What about Keynes impresses you?
Would be a much more convincing analogy if the alternative wasn’t Cuomo. And what are the chances the republicans will put up a candidate that can translate this message into something the younger voters can get behind? But step one is not having the more business friendly democrat be a total POS.
Please provide links to actual textbooks and curricula. I live in Florida, and there is no way kids in Florida are being taught that. These are extreme woke leftist positions that are not remotely mainstream. Points 3 and 4 are basically true. And this is why we need to acknowledge the horrors of Jim Crow and how racist whites kept blacks from achieving real parity until the civil rights era. Consider how redlining was used to keep blacks from attaining real economic parity via housing. Inequalty for blacks in education was not remotely addressed until Brown vs Board of education.. And that took years to implement. All the other points are standard woke BS that only a few social justice warriors are trying to indoctrinate.
I gave you the link to the curriculum. There are links there to samples. Obviously I disagree with you about the rest.
That person is actively campaigning for Mamdani. He's a troll and has been blocked.