New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivered a Fourth of July message that sounded like America is on its death bed. Immigrant citizens standing on each side of him as he sat at a desk used by George Washington, were even more stoic.
July Fourth is supposed to be a celebratory time. Not for Mamdani who looked as if he had lost his best friend.
After some obligatory praise for the nation to which he immigrated, Mamdani said that for “the powerful, America is an arena of supremacy, where only a select few are allowed freedom, where not all are created equal. America, if you ask them, becomes less the more people it welcomes. America, they will tell you, belongs only to those with the right accent or the right shade of skin.” He wrongly equates legal with illegal immigration.
He told a blatant lie. America has a history of trying to right wrongs and prove the opposite of his claim, as in civil rights legislation, court rulings, the election of Barack Obama and even Mamdani. It is part of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) playbook to divide us and transform the country into their image.
There’s more: “As we mark 250 years, what do we see? We see a city of contradictions within a nation of contradictions. We see the wealthiest country in the history of the world, one where children go to sleep hungry, while the world’s first trillionaire hungers for more.” Democrats have held the New York City mayor’s office for years and there have been Democrat presidents. Why haven’t they fixed this problem and what does Elon Musk have to do with it? It appears the left would rather have the issue to bash Republicans than to provide solutions.
Mamdani goes on with a depressing litany that makes America look like a developing nation, not the “shining city on a hill” Ronald Reagan once called it. He criticized “oligarchs,” claiming, “we sell our elections to the highest bidder.” He ignores George Soros and his spending on U.S. elections. The New York Post reports Soros “has spent roughly $102.8 million so far in the current midterm election cycle, potentially making him the largest individual political donor to date.”
Mamdani closes with this line which seems to invalidate much of what he said before about what he considers evil, poverty and discrimination in America: “What a privilege each of us has to live in a nation that every one of its inhabitants can shape.”
That’s the point, isn’t it? If one gets a good education, adheres to certain moral principles — like getting married — and a man is a loving and disciplining father to his children, avoids illegal drugs and crime — anyone living by these standards can rise to the level of their abilities if they persist. Mamdani’s negative and depressing view of America tells people they can fail and get unending government benefits, which encourages slothfulness.
A song by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer published in 1944 as America was still in the grips of World War II expressed the American attitude that has sustained us for 250 years:
“You got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mr. In-between
You got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
And have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene.”
Accentuating the positive about America is what Mamdani and his fellow DSA adherents do not promote. Socialism has gotten the attention of especially younger people who know little to nothing about its track record. It is why Democrat Socialists are winning primary elections in New York City and beyond. They will continue to win if not enough people explain and expose their extreme agenda.
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).