Is Zohran Mamdani Too Extreme? Or Just What NYC Needs?

If fighting for housing, dignity, and a livable future is radical, then it’s way past time we all got a lot more radical...

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I’ve spent a good chunk of my life in New York City; I used to co-own a business in the early 1980s based in the Chelsea neighborhood. My best friend and business partner lived just around the block and I bought the fold-out couch for his living room that I’ve probably slept on cumulatively for two years or more over the past almost 50 years.

I remember Mayors John Lindsay, Abe Beame, Ed Koch, David Dinkins, and even Rudy Giuliani. New York has seen it all, mayor-wise, and survived it all.

So it’s particularly fascinating to see how right-wing pundits are panicking. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board is clutching its pearls. And New York billionaires worried about their taxes going up are pouring money into super PACs for this fall’s election faster than you can say “luxury high-rise tax abatement.”

Why? Because Zohran Mamdani — a Democratic Socialist running for mayor of New York City — is calling out the city’s oligarchy and offering a “radical” idea: maybe New York should work for everyone, not just the ultra-wealthy.

The billionaires and billionaire-owned media are calling him extreme, but let’s take a step back: is it really Mamdani who’s extreme? Or is it the status quo?

Let’s walk through their so-called “radical” accusations and see who’s really out of touch.

Is it too extreme to... freeze rents for working families?

Mamdani proposes a rent freeze for over 2 million tenants in rent-stabilized apartments. Right-wing critics cry: “That’s government overreach!”

But here’s the truth: Is it too extreme to stop pricing the poor and working class out of the city they built? Is it too extreme to say someone shouldn’t have to work 60 hours a week and still not be able to afford rent?

What is extreme is a city where landlords raise already profitable rents faster than wages, where gentrification becomes ethnic cleansing in slow motion. A rent freeze in New York City isn’t radical: it’s humane.

Is it too extreme to... make the subway and buses free?

They say free public transit is a pipe dream. But is it too extreme to believe that getting to work, school, or the doctor shouldn’t come with a toll? That a minimum-wage worker shouldn’t have to choose between a MetroCard and a meal? Particularly in a city where most residents don’t own a car?

Free transit means cleaner air, less traffic, more dignity. It’s what smart cities from Vienna to Tallinn already do. Public transit should be like the sidewalk, open to all, not just the privileged.

Is it too extreme to... raise the minimum wage to $30/hour?

Corporate media screams: “That will destroy businesses!” But what’s truly extreme is expecting a human being to survive in New York City on $15/hour while Jeff Bezos builds a $500 million yacht and billionaire high-rises grow like weeds across the cityscape.

Rising wages don’t destroy economies; they strengthen them. We’ve seen this repeatedly in cities like Seattle ($20.76/hour) and Portland ($16.30/hour), where minimum wage increases boosted economic vibrancy. It means fewer people in poverty, fewer families on public assistance, and more dollars flowing through neighborhood stores.

The real extremism is an economy that celebrates billionaires while criminalizing poverty.

Is it too extreme to... tax the rich to pay for child care and housing?

Mamdani wants to increase corporate taxes and tax millionaires to fund universal child care and build public housing. Wall Street calls it “socialism.” But let’s be honest: we already have socialism like Social Security and Medicare, but the truly massive socialist programs are reserved for the morbidly rich who typically pay less than 4% in income tax.

Is it too extreme to ask that Columbia University and NYU — who sit on billions in tax-free real estate — pay their fair share for CUNY students struggling to afford textbooks? Or is it more extreme to let billionaire’s hedge funds hide behind nonprofit status while the working class drowns in student debt?

Is it too extreme to... build public housing?

Right-wing think tanks say social housing is “anti-market.” But when the real estate market fails, who do they expect to fix it? When banksters like Stephen Mnuchin and others on Wall Street made off with billions in the housing crash of 2008, George W. Bush bailed them all out; not a single one went to jail (at least Reagan sent banksters — over 1,000 of them — to jail when they crashed his economy!).

Is it too extreme to build homes ordinary people can afford, or is it more extreme to let speculators sit on vacant luxury condos while 100,000 New Yorkers sleep in shelters?

Is it too extreme to... treat trans healthcare as healthcare?

Mamdani’s pledge of $65 million for gender-affirming care is derided as “woke politics.” But here’s the truth: denying someone healthcare because of their gender identity is extreme. Providing it is simply justice and respect for the privacy people should enjoy in their physician’s office making decisions together without interference from Republican politicians.

No one should have to flee their state or risk their life for basic medical care. If New York won’t be a sanctuary for the marginalized, what kind of city is it?

Is it too extreme to... rethink policing?

Mamdani proposes a Department of Community Safety, a model that emphasizes mental health, violence prevention, and de-escalation. It works great in Europe.

But the right calls that “soft on crime.” They’d rather keep funneling billions into broken and increasingly militarized policing than ask if it’s too extreme to treat addiction, poverty, and mental illness with compassion instead of a baton.

Is it too extreme to... believe New York belongs to everyone?

Zohran Mamdani’s critics would have you believe he’s a dangerous radical. But in reality, he’s doing something revolutionary in the years since the Reagan Revolution: he’s listening to working people.

He’s not promising empty hope: he’s offering a vision backed by data, economic modeling, and most importantly, moral clarity.

So let’s ask ourselves: Is Mamdani too extreme?

Or is he exactly the kind of “extreme” we need right now? And not just for New York City, but for the entire nation?

Because if fighting for housing, dignity, and a livable future is radical, then it’s way past time we all got a lot more radical.

Louise’s Daily Song: “Is Zohran Mamdani Too Extreme? Or Just What NYC Needs?”

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