With the victory of Socialist Zohran Mamdani against former Democratic Party star Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Silwa, it shows the triumph of the far left over Democratic moderates and their greater respect for the free market. The success of Donald Trump and his policies of government control of the economy show that the far right has prevailed over GOP moderates who supported capitalism over new White House socialism.
We know that Mamdani, as well as supporters like AOC and Bernie Sanders favor a much more expanded role for the state in the economy, with greater levels of government spending, higher taxes, and an enhanced tolerance for budget deficits.
It’s the same for MAGA.
Since his inauguration, President Trump has engaged in a massive pro-socialism agenda. Imposing unprecedented tariffs, which are taxes on trade, free markets are in retreat in the face of the whims of the current White House, as noted by the Wall Street Journal. We’re seeing presidential bailouts with taxpayer dollars going out to a so-called “libertarian economist” serving as Argentina’s president.
The Big Beautiful Bill expanded government spending.
We are also witnessing companies having to bend the knee to this administration. Law firms are being forced to work for the presidency. Private universities are being told who to accept, and what to teach. Such astounding meddling by executive branches in the statehouses as well as White House, is even extending to sports, as they determine who should coach, who can perform in halftime shows, and where sporting events can be played, based on voting patterns.
There’s also the shocking boost in ICE actions and targeting of companies based upon who they can hire.
Believe it or not, I have people email me claiming I’m a socialist. Here are the facts: I teach at a religious private university. Supporting socialism would eliminate my job that I love. And there has been a definite impact of executive orders that regulate what I can teach. I write for privately-owned newspapers, but there are plans to target the Times v. Sullivan Supreme Court precedent, in order to regulate what can be printed and not printed that these editors and publishers of the media can certainly attest to, as well as what pressures they currently face.
I just saw polls saying that socialism is more in vogue with college students than capitalism. Well, very few of my students are socialists. Most can’t wait to work in the private sector. With socialism on the left and on the right, and some media adoration of both the Sanders-AOC-Mamdani wing and Trump and his acolytes on the right, the traditional parties’ embrace of largely free market support with some government intervention is getting squeezed in the middle.
Back in 1965, free market economist Milton Freidman admitted “we are all Keynesians now,” a reference to the fact that capitalist supporters like himself were being flanked not just by Democrats but by Republicans as both parties tolerated greater levels of government spending. A decade later, President Nixon admitted he too was a Keynesian (see the New York Times article), a term for economists who supported greater government budgets to solve economic problems, a word once reserved for Democrats from the FDR era.
I know the rise of both groups that seek to use the government control of our lives has many Americans discouraged. Now is not the time to retreat. Those who still enjoy our economic and political freedoms better speak up now, and both support and vote for candidates who believe in less government control, before it’s too late.
Otherwise, we’ll find ourselves having to choose between left-wing socialism and right-wing socialism, if we even get a vote.