Tag Archives: collectivism

I’m From The Government, And I’m Here To Help

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This is an excerpt from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s speech after being sworn into office (source here):

Many of these people have been betrayed by the established order. But in our administration, their needs will be met. Their hopes and dreams and interests will be reflected transparently in government. They will shape our future.

And if for too long these communities have existed as distinct from one another, we will draw this city closer together. 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. Because no matter what you eat, how you pray, or where you come from — the words that most define us are the two we all share: New Yorkers.

Rugged individualism is what built America. Rugged individualism is what settled and civilized the west. Collectivism almost destroyed America’s original settlers at Jamestown and Plymouth. The original charters of both settlements required collectivism. In both cases, the colonists nearly starved to death. Collectivism does not work as long as human nature exists. In Massachusetts in 1623, a decision was made to do a second planting to avoid starvation. Part of that decision was to parcel out individual lots for the planting. Before this all crops had been communal and the produce given to each according to his needs rather than according to his effort. When the individual parcels were given out, much more corn was planted, and the free market took over. The free market prevented the starvation of the Pilgrims.

In 1905 George Santayana stated, “Those who do not learn from the experience of history are doomed to repeat it.”

Recently I posted an article about the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) passed by the New York City Council (article here). Mayor Adam’s vetoed the bill on New Year’s Eve. It will be interesting to see if the bill is reintroduced, because Mayor Mamdani will sign it. The bill interferes with property owners’ ability to sell their property.

I wish New York City well, but I am seriously concerned about the future of the city.

A Philosophy That Doesn’t Really Fit America

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Today’s Washington Times posted a story and a video of a recent campaign speech by President Obama.

The statement:

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back.  They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.  You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.  (Applause.)

 If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.  There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own.  I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service.  That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires. 

Let’s look at that statement for a minute. Many successful people did get there on their own. In a classroom taught by a great teacher, there are no guarantees that any student is going to be successful. If a great teacher could make everyone in her class successful, we would have a lot more successful people. This unbelievable American system was not created collectively–it was created by individuals. Yes, we do things together, but we do things together as individuals–each contributing their own particular talent. Most of us have gotten over our envy of the rich–we understand that most wealthy people worked very hard to gain their wealth. The mindset in this speech is one of collectivism–not of free enterprise. This whole speech does not belong in an American Presidential campaign. It is an insult to the founding fathers of America.  

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