Mamdani is the anti-Reagan – Washington Examiner
Zohran Mamdani, the newly inaugurated mayor of New York City, has declared he will govern as a democratic socialist, embracing expansive, activist government to tackle affordability and other civic problems. He vowed City Hall will no longer hesitate to use its power, promising bold attempts to solve large and small concerns and even saying he will “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” The article contrasts mamdani’s outlook with Ronald Reagan’s antigovernment rhetoric – notably Reagan’s line that “government is the problem” – and with Clinton-era centrism, arguing Mamdani represents a sharp ideological reversal.Both Mamdani and Reagan rose to power amid high inflation and cost-of-living pain, but Mamdani’s approach seeks a new era of big-government solutions rather than retrenchment. Though ineligible for the presidency because he was born in Uganda, Mamdani’s swearing-in featured Bernie sanders and a prominent speech from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, underscoring his ties to the progressive wing. The piece concludes that while local government is practical and outcomes remain to be seen, Mamdani is unmistakably positioned as the anti-Reagan.
Mamdani is the anti-Reagan
Former President Ronald Reagan often quipped that the nine most terrifying words in the English language were, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani finds these words promising, even exhilarating.
“I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” Mamdani said outside City Hall as he celebrated his inauguration as mayor on Thursday.
When Mamdani was first elected late last year, he declared, “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.”
This couldn’t be any more different than Reagan’s contention in his 1981 inaugural address as president: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
The socialist did not let up on his rhetoric when he was sworn in as mayor, contrasting himself not just with Reagan but the “New Democrat” Bill Clinton, his party’s answer to a dozen years of Reaganism’s success.
“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,” Mamdani told the assembled crowd. “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.”
“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” he later vowed.
This once again stands worlds apart from Reagan in 1981: “From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.”
While Mamdani and Reagan are polar opposites ideologically, they came to power under similar circumstances. They each were elected during a period of high inflation that the entrenched political elites seemed powerless to resolve.
New York City had long been an expensive place to live. Then came the highest rate of national inflation since Reagan’s first year in office in June 2022. It became a cost-of-living crisis for people earning six-figure incomes, buckling under the weight of dramatically spiking rents and massive student loan debt.
It was similar to the late 1970s and early 80s, when working people were buffeted by inflation, double-digit interest rates, and unlegislated inflation-induced tax increases in the form of bracket creep. Those voters were ready to contemplate a once-unthinkable retrenchment of government, a sharp break with the New Deal consensus that had long been a reality of American politics.
Now the socialists hope the affordability issue, though inflamed by reckless government spending and loose monetary policy, will ring down the curtain on Reaganism and Clintonite Democratic centrism, ushering in a new era of big government.
Unlike Reagan, the Ugandan-born Mamdani cannot become president under the current constitutional strictures. But Mamdani was sworn in by the first socialist to try seriously in many decades, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). There was also a raucous speech by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a Mamdani ally who could be a candidate for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.
Nearly 45 years ago, Reagan became the oldest man to assume the presidency — he has since been eclipsed twice. Mamdani is the youngest mayor of New York City in generations and its third youngest in history.
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Reagan revolutionized politics for a generation and remains an iconic figure within his party more than two decades after his death, though the New Right is seeking new ways to compete with socialism through national solidarity and the exercise of political power under President Donald Trump. What happens with Mamdani remains to be seen. Local government is often a practical project.
But it is already unmistakably clear that Mamdani is the anti-Reagan, representing a radically different solution to a familiar set of problems.
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