Zohran Mamdani’s strong belief in “Democratic Socialism,” which doesn’t actually exist anywhere on the planet, combined with his support of terrorism leads me to the only conclusion I can draw, and that is that he has nefarious intentions. For most naive, ignorant Americans who claim to be Democratic Socialists, they desire a comprehensive social safety net. For example, healthcare for all, protection from homelessness if someone loses their job and can’t pay their rent or mortgage. These are understandable desires that any human being can relate to. But that IS NOT Socialism. Socialism is as much about ideology as economics. They are intertwined. It’s about class struggle. It’s about the idea that the wealthy, ruling class is responsible for all the ills of society. It’s the notion that private property should be abolished and more importantly, is unfair. “Each according to his ability, each according to his need,” which is the foundation of Communism.

But who determines ability and who determines need? A brutal, murderous dictator, not a democratically elected President and law making body. In history, only autocratic regimes have been at the fore of such experiments. Joseph Stalin, who was born into limited means, espoused the precepts of Karl Marx’s and soon after, to Lenin, whom he followed until his death in 1924. Stalin believed that Capitalism should be overthrown by a working class revolution, and replaced by Communism. State control was necessary in order to industrialize quickly and would be lead by the working class. Of course this experiment evolved into one of the most brutal dictatorships in history. We must include tyrants like Fidel Castro, Pol Pot and Idi Amin, who coincidentally, was also from Uganda.

It’s oxymoronic to discuss Democracy and Communism in the same sentence. It can not exist because at its foundation is Control. Control over the means of production. Control over how it’s implemented. Control over freedom of movement and where one can live. Many like AOC, whose wealth has grown exponentially since being in office despite her somewhat modest salary, and Bernie Sanders, who owns three homes, blames the billionaires for all the ills of society, despite the fact that he is a very wealthy man and she grows wealthier every year. That, I don’t hold against them. It’s the American Dream, realized. But the hypocrisy is incomprehensible and despicable.

The Socialism, which Mamdani espouses closely aligns with the Communism that Karl Marx wrote about in his manifesto. It’s anti-American because unlike Marx’s time, most of our families came to this country with nothing, and climbed the economic ladder and became woven into fabric of this nation. They bought into the notion that if you come to America, you can achieve anything. They kissed the docks when they exited the holds of the ships that brought them here. Arguing that the ruling class, or billionaires are keeping you down, is not the way to improve one’s own social or economic standing. Socialism is the “misery loves company” economic model. We might not have anything, but at least no one has anything. There’s not one country on earth that is Democratic and Socialist/Communist. Even China and Russia, abandoned this model after the failures of their five-year-plans. They recognized that growth, without incentive, which drives innovation, is unsustainable.

Many things concern me about this self-proclaimed democratic socialist Mamdani, including his plan for government owned supermarkets, his contempt for private home ownership and his distrust and desire to defund the police. All the while, he lives a life of a consummate Capitalist. He’s the child of a wealthy, well-known Bollywood filmmaker, Mira Nair and academic Mahmoud Mamdani. He graduated from Bronx High School of Science, an elite New York City Public school and even more elite Bowdoin College. A child of privilege brought up with privilege. Wealthy elites who claim to stand for a cause even as their actions prove otherwise.

Mamdani lives in a $2,300 rent controlled apartment In New York City, that could be occupied by a middle class family even as he lectures about how unfair housing policies are in the City. We know he owns acres of property in Uganda estimated to be worth between $150,000 and $250,000, (a lot of money in Uganda) but he claims almost no assets in this country. NYC campaign laws do not require candidates to list all of their financial holdings. We know his mother once owned a $1.375 million loft in 2008 and sold it for $1.45 million in 2019. Estimates of his parent’s wealth vary greatly from $2 million, (which is clearly incorrect judging by that one New York Loft), and $22 million. But their overall wealth, could be considerably higher than that.

What then is his real motive? Is it to create chaos and to bring down New York City and ultimately the country using our freedoms including elected office? I’m no conspiracy theorist but the idea has merit. The very notion that he refuses to outright reject the term Globalize the Intifada, should raise red flags. He is very clever and well polished by his handlers. He skirts issues cleverly by what I would term, verbal Judo. He absorbs, deflects, and redirects the answer so that he never actually answers it. Then he flashes a big smile when challenged.

If we can at least agree that New York City is one of the most prosperous cities in the world, we must also agree that it became prosperous because of Capitalism; Wall Street, at the heart of that system. How then, logically, is socialism going to improve upon it? The way to raise citizens from poverty and inequality is through education and economic opportunity, not by providing food through government owned cooperatives. Certainly not be making neighborhoods less safe by defunding the police. It’s been proven ineffective and simply bad policy and Mandami must be overwhelmingly defeated at the polls so that no Communist, terrorist sympathizer, candidate, is ever given such an opportunity again to destroy our economic and social infrastructure and ultimately our city. We can not afford to “see what happens”. By that point, it will be too late.