Robert Reich - The only upside to living through this dark time is it pushes us to rethink and perhaps totally remake things we once thought immutable.
Like the Democratic Party.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the current Democratic Party is dysfunctional if not dead.
Better dysfunctional than a fascist cult like the Trump Republican Party. But if there was ever a time when America needed a strong, vibrant Democratic Party, it’s now. And we don’t have one.
The brightest light in the Democratic Party is Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old member of the New York State Assembly who has a good chance of being elected the next mayor of New York City when New Yorkers go to the polls a week from Tuesday.
Mamdani is talking about what matters to most voters — the cost living. He says New York should be affordable to everyone.
He’s addressing the problems New Yorkers discuss over their kitchen tables. He’s not debating “Trumpism” or “capitalism” or “Democratic socialism.” He’s not offering a typical Democratic “10-point plan” with refundable tax credits that no one understands.
He’s proposing a few easy-to-understand things — free buses, free childcare, a four-year rent freeze for some two million residents, and a $30 minimum wage. He’s aiming to do what Franklin D. Roosevelt did in the 1930s — fix it.
You may not agree with all his proposals (I don’t) but they’re understandable. And if they don’t work, I expect that, like FDR, he’ll try something else.
The clincher for me is he’s inspiring a new generation of young people. He’s got them excited about politics. (My seventeen-year-old granddaughter is spending her weekends knocking on doors for him, as are her friends.)
No comments:
Post a Comment