If you need a boost to start this new year right, even as we fall further into the Trump-fucked abyss, I encourage you to watch the entire inauguration ceremony for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. It was lefty bliss, a balm for the battered soul and a jolt to the heart yearning for action. From people abused by the immigration system giving the oath to Public Advocate Jumaane Williams to Williams's emotional speech, from Gen Z fave Lucy Dacus singing the old labor movement song "Bread and Roses" to Bernie Sanders's rousing introduction for Mamdani. Serious liberalpalooza vibes all around, like some kind of fever dream of democracy actually coming through for once.
Most importantly, in his inauguration address, Mamdani didn't just reaffirm his progressive agenda, saying that "I have been told that this is the occasion to reset expectations, that I should use this opportunity to encourage the people of New York to ask for little and expect even less. I will do no such thing. The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations." Yes, that was terrific, as was his restating of the goals of his campaign, making clear that he was going to push for big ideas and big efforts. He also demonstrated an understanding of the broad array of identities that he will be leading, talking about individuals as threads in a larger tapestry.
But what got me practically cheering on my couch was when Mamdani went directly at a couple of the shibboleths of contemporary politics, the kind of bullshit that Republicans have been slinging since at least the FDR era, ideas that have become so ingrained in American rhetoric that Democrats often find themselves saying much the same or having to react to them. Mamdani's approach was to take back a version of progressivism that hearkens to the early 20th century and through the time of the New Deal: a sense that we're all in this together and we better fucking act like we are and the clearest expression of that is the government that we elect and demand action from.
He said, "Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try. To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this: No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives." And if you immediately think about Ronald Reagan when you read that line on big government, Mamdani is actually quoting Bill Clinton's 1996 inaugural address when he took the Democratic Party into Republican-lite territory. Clinton said it like it was a fact coming out of the Reagan/Bush years, and he leaned into it instead of cursing it or vowing to change it. Mamdani is throwing it back into the cesspool of shitty ideas with a call to move government back to its rightful place as democratic expression of what the broad populace needs and desires, not merely a tool used too often for oppression and neglect while favoring the wealthy few who know how to manipulate its complex machinery and its facile leaders.
Then, in something that has pissed off all the right people, Mamdani went right at the foundation of conservative ideology when he said, "We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it." Now that's some socialism that walks the motherfucking walk right there.
The great lie of America is that the only way to succeed is by placing the individual self above all else, looking out for #1 and all that bullshit. It's been the cement shoes on the workers' rights movements since the 1980s, when we moved from the collectivist dreams of the 1960s and 70s to the "Greed is good" era of amped-up capitalism. We thought we'd shift back during the Obama years, but that was beaten to death by the greedy fucks in the GOP and their complicit media. What was the Tea Party movement but a conglomeration of avarice and ignorance masked as freedom from the government? "The American dream" has long been a sucker's bet, a way to make one's own advancement the only the thing that matters, not the idea of living in a country, a state, or a city, even, where everyone's needs are the business of everyone else and that helping the least makes life better for all people. Mamdani did indeed campaign on how New York City is almost uniquely positioned to demonstrate how this can actually work.
It's extra important for young people especially to hear that. They have been inundated with the venality and treachery of the Trump administration, where government doesn't give a shit about you and fuck you if you think it should. I'd implore them (and everyone) to learn the goddamn difference between democratic socialism and communism because the motherfuckers are coming after Mamdani hard, invoking Soviet gulags and Chinese oppression. Mamdani isn't a communist. He doesn't believe that all people should be equal in property and wealth. He doesn't believe in the government owning all housing and controlling all industries so that it gives out homes and jobs. Thinking that the ultra-rich should pay higher taxes so that poor people can ride the buses for free does not equal enforced food rationing and the imprisonment of dissidents. In fact, those who keep bringing up that shit should be treated like the fucking morons or despicable liars that they are.
And it's also important that the Democratic Party watches how this all goes down and learns. Take this radical refocus, this return what used to motivate the left and the center-left and, hell, even the center politically, and use it. It's time to put Clintonism on a raft and set it on fire. It's time to assert that government can be a force for good. It's time to promise to do things on a national level that Mamdani is already doing, like shitcanning everything the corrupt and compromised former mayor, Eric Adams, did after he was indicted. Promise to reverse everything Trump has done and raze his golden ballroom. Talk about immigrants like they are welcome additions to the country, not invaders or criminals. Jesus, this shouldn't be hard.
I don't know how this will go or what Mamdani will be able to accomplish. But, goddamn, it's a good start. And as we reach new levels of fucked as a desperate Trump tries to cram in every terrible thing he wants to do before the midterms change the equation, I'll take whatever glimmers of light I can.
