Today’s quote comes to us from law professor/author/commentator Jonathan Turley. It is in the form of a commentary he has just published about New York City’s just-elected Mayor, zohran mamdani.
Here is what Mr. Turley has to say:
“In my book “Rage and the Republic,” I discuss the rise of support for socialism in both the U.S. and Europe, including the election of Zohran Mamdani. The new mayor was elected on many of the same socialist mantras, promising to introduce New Yorkers to the “warmth of socialism.” Now elected, he is discovering the problem of, as Margaret Thatcher put it, “running out of other people’s money.” Mamdani has announced that he may have to implement “painful” property tax hikes, including a potential 9.5% increase that would devastate an already struggling economy and accelerate the exodus of high-taxpayers from the state.
“Notably, while Mamdani is suggesting cuts in police and other areas of the budget, he is proposing a $127 billion budget, an increase of $5 billion from last year. His budget would now be larger than those of 47 of 50 states. As noted by the Washington Post, that includes states like Florida with larger populations.
“The editors added, “The reality is that Americans may like the idea of ‘free’ stuff — it’s how socialists win elections — but they are less excited about having to pay for it.”
“With New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers in Albany balking at increasing taxes, Mamdani is faced with having to actually pay for all of the free stuff that he promised.
“When confronted with the fact that the Governor opposes new taxes as the state struggles to keep wealthy citizens from fleeing to Florida, Mamdani responded that it was not important how they paid for the new stuff. The important thing was that they pay for it somehow.
“With rent controls, new massive spending programs, and proposed new taxes, Mamdani could be on the brink of causing the greatest exodus since the Red Sea Crossing.”
My one complaint about Mr. Turley’s analysis is that he left out mamdani’s plans to cancel the hiring of 5,000 additional police officers. I mean, after all, New York City doesn’t have a crime problem, does it? (Feel free to wipe the sarcasm from your screen any time you care to).
The mamdani plan in a nutshell (with special emphasis on “nut”): lots of stuff for “free” (i.e. other people pay for it), less police (who needs ’em?), Israel hatred (a promise to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister if he comes to New York City), while putting the wood to anyone who is productive and/or who owns property that can be overtaxed (which, as Professor Turley points out, will cause a flood of the most productive/tax-paying people to leave the city).
And I thought the Mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco (Gavin Newsom among them) were good at destroying once-great cities? They could learn a thing or two from zohran mamdani.
I award Jonathan Turley Quote Of The Day honors for explaining the consequences of this disastrous mayoralty so clearly.
I also award a special mention to the voters of New York City for showing us, this past November, what urban suicide looks like.
I can only hope the voters of other cities take note; and act accordingly.
