Bill Clinton’s last-minute endorsement of Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s mayoral race is all too fitting: both men represent the corporate Democratic establishment, opposed by socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani, that has abandoned the working class.
This is the best possible PR that Mamdani could’ve hoped for
The establishment politicians of the Democratic party are why they are polling at historic lows, but I’m also concerned that too much has been placed on Mamdani’s shoulders in regards to the future of the party. Its one race, in a state with a Democratic party that is very different than Democratic parties in the rest of the country, with a voting system that while better, is more subject to uncertainty than we’re used to. A lot of fuckery can happen between now and then.
Mamdani isn’t a super hero and a lot can happen between here and there. Its a good thing that he’s doing well, but its not clear whatsoever that there is a political path towards defeating fascism in the US, even if Mamdani pulls this out. If they do, its a largely aesthetic win; its not like a senate seat or the house is in play from this.
We need to fully digest the fact that politics have failed us and recognize that we may need to move on with regards to the fight against fascism. Ideally, there is both a political path to fighting fascism and a boots on the ground path, but I’m concerned about over investing in political paths which have repeatedly demonstrated themselves to be a waste of resources, effort, and mind share.
To pin this all on one man is supremely America-brained - I trust you’re not trying to do that. This is a movement for our moment within our electoral space.
Yes, he is the candidate. No, he is not alone. His campaign and platform are both rooted in a different conception of how to do politics. And that is a story Americans need to hear. He offers us the chance to actually offer that to a majority of Americans, person to person. From a depth of Change in machinery that makes Bernie look like Biden. And it is about investing in Americans - all Americans.
It is not perfect, it is still limited largely to fit within the imagination of Liberals in the US. But we can finally shift the overton window so that the US has an actual Left party. And we might get to explore what that means!
I hope we can have a Leftist as “America’s Mayor” for this moment that needs an antidote to Fascism.
I think his campaign succeeding would more be a way to show his kind of message and campaign tactics are actually viable both in general and against establishment Dems as opposed to it somehow making a big difference in the country. If he succeeds he’s laying the track for others to follow.
Put it in the pile?
We’ve got a massive stack of evidence showing that progressive policies and candidates are popular and win elections; that centrists and moderates lose elections; and that the main reason why Democrats fail to perform is when they try to get RW’ing voters instead of activating their base, trying to get LW’ing voters. We’ve got like 2.5 decades of consistent data showing this. The two problems we have are 1) we have a media and Democratic consultant class for whom maintaining control of the party is a higher priority than maintaining control of government as a party, and that 2) these people and the voters have very different interests that don’t align and are basically exclusive to one another.
The biggest opposition to Democrats winning elections isn’t Republicans, it’s Democrats who are wrong about where the country is at, who are wrong about how elections work, and who can’t be removed from any office because at its core, the Democratic Party is a fundamentally undemocratic institution (like, we’ve had supreme court rulings on the matter).
So stack it up. The evidence is clear that Democratic socialist policies win Democrats elections. But with apologists always willing to come out and make apologies for business as usual, well never be able to to break the blood brain barrier within the DNC.