OPINION:
In explaining how the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand said: “You can’t beat something with nothing.” That’s why, even with New York City Mayor Eric Adams out of the race, socialist Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is destined to be the next mayor of New York, and the Big Apple is doomed.
Rand, who lived through the Russian Revolution, spoke from experience. Alexander Kerensky, who became prime minister after the abdication of Czar Nicholas II, was a colorless bureaucrat. The Whites, supporters of the Romanovs, were fighting for an Imperial Russia that no longer existed.
The Bolsheviks promised “peace, land and bread” to starving, war-weary Russians. What they delivered was 73 years of oppression and abject misery. Russia, led by a former KGB thug, still suffers.
The oily Mr. Mamdani, with his tiger’s smile, offers free everything, higher taxes on the already overtaxed rich, and more coddling of criminals.
If you have money to invest, buy commercial real estate in Miami, destined to be the next financial capital of the United States.
The Republican in the race, perennial candidate Curtis Sliwa (who is polling at around 11%), would make a great mayor but doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance.
That leaves former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a welfare state Democrat with the blood of nursing home patients on his hands and his handprints on various women.
The three-term governor was once considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, a status he secured by raising taxes, increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour and mandating 12 weeks of paid family leave. He also showed his devotion to the liberal social agenda by pushing through same-sex marriage, the toughest gun control in the nation and the decriminalization of marijuana.
Of course, there were a few speed bumps along the way.
As governor during the pandemic crisis, Mr. Cuomo forced nursing homes to accept 9,000 patients infected with the coronavirus. No one knows how many deaths this caused. A report by the New York State Department of Health charged that he undercounted the number of COVID-19 nursing home deaths by 46%.
What finally brought down Mr. Cuomo were allegations of sexual harassment. In this context, harassment didn’t mean casual comments but rather lewd suggestions and groping that would make Jeffrey Epstein blush.
Mr. Cuomo resigned from the governorship after the release of a report by New York’s attorney general that supported the allegations and while several criminal investigations were pending.
If Mr. Cuomo is elected mayor, female aides might consider moving their desks to Newark.
Well, at least he’s not Mr. Mamdani, those desperate to stop the Castro clone say. This is high praise indeed.
Granted, with Mr. Cuomo, New Yorkers won’t get Mr. Mamdani’s wild-eyed, seize-the-means-of-production socialism. Instead, they will get the Democratic Party’s business-as-usual, welfare-state socialism, a standard since the George McGovern campaign.
Mr. Mamdani promises 200,000 more “affordable housing” units, free transportation, municipal supermarkets, the replacement of some cops with social workers, and $100 million to pay for attorneys for illegal aliens facing deportation. He is just getting warmed up.
Boys and girls together, Mr. Mamdani and Karl Marx tripped the light dialectical materialism on the sidewalks of New York.
Mr. Cuomo was an early supporter of sanctuary cities. In 2019, he signed a cashless bail law but later acknowledged having second thoughts about the reform, which turned New York into a charnel house. With him, New Yorkers will get slower-acting poison, but they will be just as dead in the long run.
When given a choice between the real thing and a weak echo, voters usually go with the former.
After Ronald Reagan’s presidency, Republicans offered voters a string of insipid, ersatz candidates — including President George H.W. Bush and Sens. Bob Dole, John McCain and Willard Mitt Romney — and got clobbered at the polls. Then, along came Donald Trump, and Republicans started winning.
It’s five weeks until the New York mayoral election. Will there be an October surprise? Is there any revelation that could stop Mr. Mamdani? Did he marry his sister (no big deal in Uganda)?
On the bright side, at their 1992 convention, Republicans scored points by talking about the “San Francisco Democrats.” Next year, Republicans can talk about the Mamdani Marxists who have taken over the Democratic Party.
Florida will experience a real estate boom unlike any other.
Do I want Mr. Mamdani the Commie to win? Hell, no! I’m saying only that you can’t beat something with nothing.
• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.