How Do You Pray for a Marxist in New York City?

With his typically confrontational style, President Donald Trump just called the Democratic Party’s mayoral candidate for New York City, Zohran Mamdani, a communist.

Many people don’t like the president because they think he’s mean. However, in this case, I can’t think of a better leader than him. We must confront this issue. Hopefully, his direct approach will prompt people to think critically. Let’s spark a debate that reaches voters.

Mamdani openly calls himself a “Democratic Socialist,” but like Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, he denies being a communist. So, who’s telling the truth?

Are These People Marxists?

The Preamble on the Democratic Socialists of America’s website clearly states the group’s beliefs. In the following excerpts, I’ve inserted the Marxist subtext in parentheses. It could be funny, but the concepts are deadly serious. You can read Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto afterward for a direct comparison.

The Preamble states:

The Democratic Socialists of America are fighting to win a world organized and governed by and for the vast majority, the working class (the proletariat, subsistence workers, who become the ruling class). We are socialist because we share a vision of a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning, equitable distribution (collective ownership under complete government control), feminism, racial equality and non-oppressive relationships (use race and sex instead of economic class because we can’t seem to get the workers of the world to unite).

Our fight to end capitalist exploitation is inextricably tied to our fight to end oppression (create division in society so we can take over and control people, to create a fairness that we design).

We will never be able to unify a multiracial working class without confronting structural racism (workers aren’t unhappy enough to revolt, so we’re trying to divide and make people angry over race).

… a democratic socialist society must end the economic subjugation of women in the workplace, violence and harassment affecting women and non-binary people, and the entire system of unpaid, gendered work (unpaid gendered work? eliminate stay-at-home wives and mothers. Destroy the traditional family structure. The power over children and their ideas becomes complete under the collective state).

We strive for the emancipation of all people by forging the multiracial working class into an organized, fighting force (political takeover through a massive increase in immigration from poor, ethnic countries, with the promise of a big, generous government).

… the U.S. socialist movement is on the rise (we’re playing to win)…

… massive popular protests and organizing for racial justice, an influential upsurge in militant labor activity (bringing a summer of love to a city near you)…

… the kinds of collective, democratic organizations necessary to challenge the power of the capitalist class (workers of the world unite!).

We have a world to win (utopia).

The Distinction

When someone denies something, they often avoid the meaning of it by thinking of something else when making their point. In their minds, they hang their hat on a distinction they hold without explaining the difference between what they they want you to believe about what they’re saying and what other people know those words to mean (such as equity vs. equality). When you see this, it’s easy to confront them on their true meaning.

Those who adhere to Democratic Socialism let the cat out of the bag by saying they don’t want violence, but do want a kind of socialism that in all other ways looks like Marxism. Not wanting violence to get the principles of Marxism does not mean you’re not a Marxist. And peaceful socialism is an idea that appeals to young people.

It is evident that Zohran Mamdani is using the same playbook as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He is all over the news shows these days, charming the hosts, selling socialism with a smile.

I wish a reporter would confront him on the fact that his beliefs align with those of Karl Marx, as stated in the Communist Manifesto. Additionally, they align with the information provided on the DSA website. Bullet points showing the alignment of beliefs could be on the screen. The reporter could reference the list and say, “So, you want the same result, except for the point about not using violence to get there?”

We’ve seen so much violence in recent Leftist protests that even if the DSA’s stated goal is non-violent, it seems a lot of people aligned with them want a violent Marxist revolution. Too many news people won’t bring these things up at all because they also are aligned with the Democratic Party, and “don’t want to hurt the cause.”

Political Talent

Years ago, a political commentator said that Ronald Reagan essentially had the same message as Barry Goldwater, but he delivered it with a smile instead of a scowl. Goldwater resoundingly lost the presidential election in 1964 by a landslide; 20 years later, Reagan won two terms in resounding landslide victories.

There is no doubt that Mamdani is a socialist with a smile. He states his intentions very clearly while beaming almost constantly. He is a candidate who would love to help create the United Soviet Socialist States of America and even put the whole world under collectivism. It’s like he’s serving guests a lovely dessert with poison in it. See him admitting “the end goal of seizing the means of production.” That’s Marxism!

Mamdani is challenging us to confront his ideas. They are communist. Politicians must challenge him in debates, and commentators can do it by writing and speaking about it; however, voters must ultimately do it at the polls.

If any good comes from this, he’ll lose the general election on November 4 resoundingly, and his campaign will only set back the Socialist movement by highlighting its flawed ideas. But, I’m sorry to say, I don’t have a lot of confidence in a city that has already elected AOC to Congress.

The Democratic Socialists argue that we can establish a cooperative economy. The irony is that we already have one now, at least when it’s not partially corrupted by socialism. We do it through free association. But they want collectivism, which is never achieved through cooperation, but by force.

To paraphrase our Lord, “Pray for those who would persecute you.”

James Malloy is the author of Economic Clarity or Political Confusion: The Classical Cure for Keynesian Debt & Deficits. He has a B.S. in business economics and has been a licensed California mortgage and real estate broker for 20 years. Contact him at econclarity.com.