In an interview on Theo Vonās podcast This Past Weekend, Mamdani warned that if the American Dream is just an ideal thatās out of within reach, then people may start to give up.
The democratic socialist compared it to legendary NYC Mayor Fiorello La Guardiaās observation during the rise of fascism in Europe, saying people turned away from democracy not because they were tired of liberty, but because they were tired of being hungry.
āSo if democracy doesnāt mean the better life that it has to, itāll lose its worth. And the same thing with the American Dream: if itās something you can only see when you turn on your TV or you hear about that one guy you grew up with who made it, that doesnāt mean enough,ā Mamdani said.
Nepo babies are taking every opportunity, and the cute name doesnāt change the reality of it.
When enough people realize it, it wonāt matter how ācoolā some of them are.
Generational wealth inequality destroys everything, and itās going to keep getting worse. Not just because the vast majority gets fucked over, but because the people who get to run shit are chosen because how wealthy their daddy was.
The masses can keep shit functional for a while, but once that pattern starts you quickly run into the rich idiots at the top causing so much damage the rest canāt keep society moving.
The wealthy are always the ones directly to blame for violent social upheaval, because they were the only ones with the power to fix it without violence. Their iron grip on their parents stolen wealth means thereās no other option.
Just a matter of when.
Where are the Carnegie types to build public infrastructure? Yāknow, improve the lives of the rest of society that gave them enough power to amass such wealth.
Thereās no such thing as a āself-made billionaireā, itās made off the exploitation of the folks below. Everyone has a great idea or two, but getting lucky isnāt just being āGodās chosen oneā (or whatever nonsense people use to deflect that billionaires existence is unjust). Itās full out exploitation in the highest order, but because they toss some breadcrumbs we do the dance for them.
Where are the Carnegie types to build public infrastructure? Yāknow, improve the lives of the rest of society that gave them enough power to amass such wealth.
Jesus fucking christā¦
They did that stuff so theyād have an excuse to lobby for tax changes
None of that shit was for the good of society, it was to trick idiots into voting for tax cuts for the wealthy.
As soon as they got the tax cuts, the wealthy stopped doing those projects.
Because the sole reason was PR
How the fuck are so many people seeing the broad strokes and not only missing the finer details, but missing who painted the fucking picture.
Gates and even Musk seemed āokā at one point, they were all pieces of shit their entire lives, they just stopped paying the PR costs
Thing is, I really donāt care if itās just PR, so long as that PR involves taking good actions.
Itās the same way how a fear of eternal damnation and hellfire does not by default make you a good person, but it can cause you to perform the same actions as a genuinely good person would. At the end of the day it doesnāt matter if you were really feeling it or not, as long as you acted like a good person.
I feel the same way about the rich. I donāt really care if you really want to be a good person or not. If some billionaireās entire philanthropic history revolves around strictly just not wanting to get eaten by the peasants, thatās fine by me. I donāt really care if you really love trans kids in your heart of hearts, but if you donate some of your money to helping them, it keeps you off my dinner menu for another day.
We canāt expect the rich to be good people at heart, because that doesnāt really ever happen (with some VERY rare and VERY special exceptions), but we can compel āgoodā behavior out of them if they fear the unwashed masses. For me, thatās good enough for most cases.
Thing is, I really donāt care if itās just PR, so long as that PR involves taking good actions
But you fucking should, thatās the entire point Iām making
If we just fucking taxed them, then the wealth would go back into circulation. If we let them pick where to donate, it just makes idiots think letting billionaires be in charge of billions of dollars might not fuck us all.
It always will Even if takes a generation or two, eventually theyāll decide that they really should be in charge because they have the most money. The only way to stop it is to stop letting people accumulate that much, and we do that thru taxation.
You are pining for a past that does not exist. Itās very similar to MAGA and itās how they all got tricked, except this is the version that Bill Maher wants you to believe.
Again, the philanthropy was a ruse to get their taxes lowered so they would āhave more to give backā.
Their taxes were lowered many times, and here we are. Carved up and stagnant since the 1980s, every gain we make erased, every ladder pulled up. Every third place closed and commercialized; even the entire sport of bowling has been fist-fucked by private equity. No more toy stores; the only hobby store is run by fundamentalist Christian nationalists who harbor stolen ancient artifacts as if Lara Croft was in Leviticus. Theyāre not just gaining power, theyāre fucking styling on us.
Now they want us to only rent from them; from land to software and everything in between.
Iām not going back to a time when we fell for their tricks, this has played out so many times over history. This time, we keep the fucking money and build what society needs. No one needs that kind of unelected power. I donāt care what you built, you didnāt earn that.
More than one thing can be true.
Iām just not seeing the goodwill to society from the current billionaires. Theyāre all ratfucks but at least of yesteryear they tossed us a bone or two.
Iām just not seeing the goodwill to society from the current billionaires
You didnāt see it from Carnegie eitherā¦
Why the fuck can you not understand this?
They were laying the groundwork so their descendants can say āwealthy businessmen know better than anyone elseā.
Look at our fucking president, he is the direct and natural consequence of people not understanding what you canāt. The difference is most of them didnāt have someone desperately trying to help them realize the most basic part of that
But at this point, Iām throwing in the towel on you.
I hope someone can explain this to you later, if not then hopefully youāll at least stop repeating the same billionaire propaganda people have been falling for this time.
Like, you can manage that, right?
If you wonāt learn how to help us, at least stop fucking helping the billionairez.
Can you do that for the 99.99999% of humans on the planet?
Someoneās angry lol.
I mean Iām angry at the billionaires too, but why be angry at me? Iām all about class consciousness and not feeding the machineā¦ but me a) not being American, b) merely suggesting some goodwill from the massive resource extraction by the billionaire class. Why you hating the player and not the game?
Iām just trying to understand where the Epstein class lost their fear? Where are the third spaces like arboretums and libraries being built today by them? I donāt see it. Maybe they had fear back then because they had to see their neighbours faces everyday, now weāre so disconnected.
But yes, please attack me more it helps us so much.
This is it exactly. Itās not necessarily the form of government youāre running, itās the elites that are running whatever form of government you have.
The only thing that has ever kept elites in check is a people united and willing to do whatever it takes to fix it.
This is it exactly. Itās not necessarily the form of government youāre running, itās the elites that are running whatever form of government you have.
Thatās learned helplessnessā¦
You still canāt even imagine a system without elites running everything.
Itās not just you, but itās so fucking disappointing itās so prevelant.
Wake the fuck up man, we need all hands on deck and even tho you think youāre plugged in your have no idea what youāre talking about and youre hurting more than helping.
For fucks sake man, I donāt even think you understand what a democracy is. You think u er capitalist wealth inequality is a part of it.
Economy and government are two completely fucking separate things. The vast majority of governmental systems would be fine without the wealth inequality the wealthy always say is a necessary part of every government system
David Ellison feels attacked.
We should call them Nepo leeches.
Hereditary disorders?
Fixed my grammar. Thanks.
Heās right, and people can see heās right, which is why they voted for him to become mayor of NYC
Meanwhile Republicans are a bunch of oligarchs who are like āNo you canāt vote for socialists becauseā¦ look at all this culture war stuff! Please keep us in power!ā
Meanwhile
Republicansboth major parties are a bunch of oligarchs who are like āNo you canāt vote for socialists becauseā¦ look at all this culture war stuff! Please keep us in power!āFixed it for you. The Dem leadership literally supported the loser of their own primary to avoid Mamdani becoming mayor.
And then when that didnāt work or mollify their owner donors, they passed an official resolution condemning socialism. They have never passed any such resolution condemning fascism, in spite of that being the ideology of the ACTUAL enemy.
Exactly they rather have fascism then socialism. Hell Newsome is trying to create his own blue Maga were he welcome fascist on his podcast.
āLook at how bad it is right now!! Thatās how bad itāll be under SOCIALISM!!!ā
If you vote for that socialist communist then prices will go up and you canāt afford anything! Vote for me!
*Everything they claimed would happen happened under them and they blamed it all on the others
SF has a democratic Oligarch as mayor and he suxxxxxx
Unless the US gets back to the pre-1980 tax policies (among many other factors), itās going to become even harder to reach.
If you want the American Dream, youāre going to have to get it the same way our grandparents did.
Invade Korea.
I favor a surprise invasion of Kaliningrad Oblast. However that ends, things will be way better for everyone after around a decade.
Have you tried being a useful sociopath in the tech billionaire cabal. Those guys probably have at least a gas guzzler filled up and a white picket fence to pretend to be a normal human behind
Well, weāre not very democratic anymore. Yeah, yeahā¦we get to vote for our leadership. āDemocraticā. But that leadership is already vetted and chosen by the wealthy with campaign contributions to ensure that an elected candidate will do what the wealthy want with barely a veneer of helping the actual country and citizens that are supposed to be the beneficiaries of the democracy.
The wealthy fuck everything up.
Democracy turns to oligarchy, socialism overrun by authoritarianism, liberal revolutions usurped by dictators. All systems fucked up by people consolidating wealth and power.
Even worse is that having a fair living wage and decent social services is seen as the big meany communism
But those government hijacked American Dreamā¢ capitalism dollars are being spent on bombing brown children and ruining everything that isnāt directly benefiting billionaires. Isnāt that what you wanted, clearly they wouldnāt be in power if thatās not what the people wanted
Yea pretty true when houses cost about 1.5 million where I am
I could try to get a down payment on a condo or a townhouse but the rates are 7.5% right now and hoa fees are about 700 for some reason
So Im renting till the housing market explodes I guess
The American dream is a scam. You have a better chance of being bitten by a shark or struck by lightning.
And you would be lucky to get bit by a shark, itās not as bad as they say, itās actually pretty great.
I trust you
The āAmerican Dreamā is propaganda. Typical single family home in the suburbs, and a ātraditional family valuesā family.
The lottery is rigged. The zoro ranch trust doesnāt win the lottery by accident. Stop buying lottery tickets
Yep, I didnāt play often, but that one got me to never play again.
What is āThe American Dreamā?
It always seems to be portrayed idealistically as a single family home in a car dependent suburb. A large driveway, and massive front lawn with a white picket fence. Something like in the image below.
Almost all these similar photos have a ātraditional family values vibeā, white family, stay at home mom, two kids of different genders. Honestly it all just screams propaganda to me.
On top of all that when you āzoom outā, that typical āAmerican Dreamā becomes a car dependent hellscape ike the one below. With no way to get around.
I donāt know, but not everyone has a wish to live in a place like this. Give me walkable transit oriented mixed use neighborhoods with āmissing middleā housing types any day.
Throw in āthird-placeā public areas where I can hang out with friends and family outside of home and work. Give me regional trains between cities, subways and trams, dedicated bus infrastructure. Give me safe cycling networks and dedicated trails. Give me city parks and fresh produce markets I can walk to.
Iām pretty sure the mayor of New York City is not talking about the suburbs when he says, āAmerican Dream.ā He means a comfortable life, evenings off work, good schools for your kids, fun vacations, and generally not feeling like youāre one accident away from financial ruin.
For sure, I suppose the point I was making is everyoneās version of the āAmerican Dreamā can be different, and people should not feel the need to be always ākeeping up with the Jonesesā in a sense.
The original American dream was independence and self sufficiency which was realized through land grants and farming. At some point, the dream got switched to owning a house that is only a collection of monthly expenses, and without any income-producing potential which farming granted. Iām not sure how many other shifts occurred along the way.
Works well if you have an excess of land that you stole by genocide and excess of wealth gained due chattel slavery
You want to live in The Netherlands.
Itās been that way for a long time. The best way to succeed, maybe the only way, is to be born rich.
Or be dinks. Itās how my wife and I made it up the ladder.
Heās right and anyone who doesnāt believe it is one of the lucky ones.
We all need to focus on building class consciousness with everyone we speakto.
Not sure if I had to put ā/sāThey are already giving up
Every State Lottery Office: āHoly shit we got an ad!ā
