When Socialists Govern

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/when-socialists-govern/

*snip*


McVeigh e-mailed every legislator at the city and state level, telling them, “I need this intersection fixed. I don’t have the emotional capacity to watch another person die in front of my house during Covid-19. This is too hard.” But every elected politician she reached out to either didn’t respond or told her that they couldn’t do anything to help.

That changed last January, when Zohran Mamdani, one of six democratic socialists to win state office in New York, became the assemblymember representing Astoria. He hosted a Covid-19 town hall meeting over Zoom, which McVeigh attended. “He said a lot of good things,” she told me, and he invited participants to volunteer with his office to help deliver constituent services to their neighbors. This work entails assisting hundreds of constituents who reach out to the assemblymember with practical needs: an unmet unemployment claim, a complaint to the city that has not been addressed, or dozens of other unique problems. McVeigh thought, “Maybe this is how I will not only get my traffic light, but I can also ensure that others don’t have the same experience that I did.”

She got involved with Mamdani’s team in March, and with the help of another volunteer, his office made sure a traffic light and pedestrian signals were finally installed at the intersection by the end of that summer. The corner by her apartment building, once raucous with honking, fender benders, and worse, has gone quiet.

This is “sewer socialism” in action, and it highlights how local, socialist governance can be responsive to ordinary people rather than to the corporate and political elite.

*snip*

[Bettie]

1. Good article

Marking to watch the flood of negativity because he calls himself a Democratic Socialist.

But, honestly they got it done and that is the important thing.

[brooklynite]

3. No objection to voters selecting a Democratic Socialist...

...but unless you have evidence that all the "real" Democrats on the City Council and on the State Legislature are sellouts to "corporate interests", there's no difference.

[brooklynite]

2. Admirable that he provides constituent service. Nothing to do with being "socialist".

Many Democrats on the City Council address the needs of people in their districts.

[Budi]

4. K & R. What exactly does this have to do with socialism?

ick.