Posted on by Nathan Riley

Mamdani: Anybody But Cuomo

Pollsters tell us the #2 guy seeking the New York City Mayor nomination is a Muslim, a socialist, and, in this writer’s opinion, using the best political commercials in decades.

Nobody calls Zohran Mamdani a fringe candidate. Simply put, he is #2 in the polls because he’s smart, and the New York City system of allowing voters to rank their choices for candidates from 1 to 5 offers outsiders the opportunity to be real competitors.

Besides his special commercials, his promises to voters are unique—they are achievable. For example, he wants to open city-owned grocery stores in poor neighborhoods and offer the cheapest prices. A little more difficult to achieve but well within the mayor’s authority is Mamdani’s promise to make bus rides free. The mayor influences the MTA but only has the ability to ask, not order, free buses. On the other hand, the mayor controls the Rent Guidelines Board, and when he promises no rent increases, he can deliver. Mayor Adams, a friend to landlords, has allowed annual increases. The mayor before him, Bill De Blasio, froze the rent three times.

Mamdani is not the only Democrat supporting rent freezes for the 1 million New Yorkers who live in rent stabilized apartments. Five other candidates make this promise.

But Mamdani is the only one doing it with flair. Every New Years Day, the “polar bears” swim in Coney Island. This year, Mamdani joined them for a swim in his business suit and then boasted, “I’m freezing…your rent as the next mayor of New York City.” Choose your media—Tiktok, Instagram, Youtube—a picture of a wet and cold Mamdani reached hundreds of thousands of potential voters.

Most of the mayoral candidates issued a press release, but Mamdani turned it into a visual event and provoked the crucial question, “Who is this guy?” The latest poll has Cuomo at 53% once his second and third place votes are counted, while Mamdani is second at 29%.

The numbers require explanation. New York City fights the power of big money with two special election features. Public funding empowers small contributors to make big contributions. For every dollar an ordinary citizen contributes, up to $250, the candidates receive $8. A $50 contribution puts $400 into the candidates’ bank account. But it was still a surprise when Democrat Zohran Mamdani announced he was the first candidate to reach maximum funding limit. The primary election is from June 14th to June 24th. The assemblymen from Astoria, Queens made his announcement on March 24th, months before the election.

Whatever the results of the mayoral primary, Mamdani reaches voters, a crucial skill in a democracy. He will be a player for the foreseeable future. His commercials attacking Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo were the most riveting I have seen in decades. Two New Yorkers are having coffee. One of them pretends to support Adams by suggesting Turkey is a wonderful place. Turks reportedly steered money and gifted fancy airline seats to the Mayor, who urgently wishes the public will forget his corruption investigations. After needling the Mayor, the ad goes after Andrew Cuomo for shutting down mental health facilities at a time when mentally ill persons are linked to disruptive and scary incidents on the subway. Cuomo who fancies himself a frugal politician was willing to save money by denying services to the mentally ill.

The commercial is a direct hit against two prominent Democrats running for mayor, and then Zohran Mamdani sits down at the table and promises to be the best alternative. He wants rent freezes, public-owned grocery stores, fast & free buses, and universal childcare. It’s a dramatically different vision of public service.

This only makes sense if we understand that besides public financing voters have a chance to be heard, even if their candidate loses. Under ranked-choice voting, the city’s second pro-democracy reform, voters pick candidates 1 through 5. Even with 37% first choices, Cuomo must still get second or third place votes to bring him over 50%. A Marist poll found that the former governor would reach 53%. Mamdani had 29%.

The candidates are fully aware that the second and third, even fifth place, votes could decide who reaches the magic 50% and becomes the nominee. Mamdani’s most recent commercial is an eloquent plea for donations to the campaign of Adrienne Adams, Speaker of the New York City Council. She entered the race late and is short of funds. Mamdani said, “We are all running together to defeat Andrew Cuomo.” He was using his popularity to help Speaker Adams and stop Cuomo. It is a remarkable example of how the ranked-choice voting promotes Democratic Party unity and makes candidates short of funds credible. Before this system was established in 2021, it would be unthinkable for candidates to help each other raise money.

Mamdani demonstrates that ranked-choice voting (RCV) allows little-known candidates to become players in a Democratic primary.

Mamdani has received lengthy news stories describing his platform and recognizing his electoral strength. This would have been impossible without RCV.

Posted on by Nathan Riley

Let’s Start a Movement For Freedom

All too often, people vote the way their friends and colleagues vote. When unions were strong and union halls were social gathering places, people voted Democratic and for unions.

Unions, of course, have declined, and the union halls play a smaller role in reaching voters. The kinds of people that join unions has changed over the years. Now, union members are usually white-collar workers—schoolteachers, professional athletes, and government office workers. Unions of autoworkers, steelworkers, construction workers, railroad workers, and other working class unions like apartment building employees are important, but they don’t dominate organized labor the way they did after World War II. Frequently, these unions work with their employers to stop foreign competition.

Freedom Democrats will organize a different group: sex workers and their customers, drug users, the LGBTQ+ community, porn watchers and the performers. By throwing weekly parties, Freedom Democrats hope to create a large group that supports personal privacy and seeks alternatives to the forever wars. The weekly parties will allow people of different backgrounds, regardless of education, to create groups of voters who can influence politics in their community and hopefully in Washington D.C. It is hoped that the weekly parties take the place of union halls as social gatherings for voters.

Freedom is critical to this group because all too often politicians impose criminal penalties, often harsh, that interfere with these people’s lives. The Declaration of Independence guarantees us equality and the right to pursue happiness as we choose. Turning these ideals into reality appeals to many Americans. In all probability, the people coming to the Freedom Democratic parties will include many who aren’t sex workers, lesbians, transgendered, or gay and prefer real sex to porn. They simply don’t care how other people live their lives, but they don’t want government interference. Adults in a free country can make up their own minds about how they get high or how they get off.

In a free country, doctors can treat patients without strangers, especially politicians and the law telling them how to do their job. The free choice that women should have with regard to abortion should also apply to people’s other personal habits. Doctors should be free to work with patients on a treatment plan that conforms to medical standards without the law or moralists telling doctors how to do their job. Most especially, doctors should be able to prescribe drugs that make users’ lives comfortable without judges or the DEA interfering.

Freedom Democrats are trying to turn the Declaration of Independence’s promise into daily reality. This idea is attractive to all kinds of people, including those who don’t take drugs or purchase sex. For this reason, it is hoped that Freedom Democrats will appeal to many Americans and give the group influence. If Freedom Democrats can nominate candidates, provide votes that help elect officials, it will have a chance to change attitudes and the law in this country.

I am 82, nearly blind, and eager to find enterprising people who want to start such a movement. I can only offer an idea. It is up to others to turn that idea into a reality.

Posted on by Nathan Riley

Was The Election Musk’s Swan Song?

The Republicans are still strong in Florida, but electing the Democrat for the Wisconsin Supreme Court is an unequivocal victory.

While it is true that Democrats picked up votes in Florida, the Republicans still won in a landslide. That they had less votes than last year proves nothing. Last year, Donald Trump was at the top of the ticket. This year, it was local elected officials who still crushed the Democrats, even if they are not a big attraction like “The Donald.”

One sign that Trump’s diminished popularity cost him votes occurred in Florida. One county that had always been Republican turned blue and voted for the Democrats. The county’s biggest employers are military bases. Politico reports that this county is known as the Cradle of Naval Aviation, in other words federal workers live there and vote. According to Politico, “There are more federal workers in Florida’s 1st District than in any of state’s 27 other congressional districts.” There are four military bases in or near the county of Escambia. Federal workers and their families have every reason to fear the wrath of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. They stopped being Republicans and gave the Democrats a 2,000-vote margin. The Republicans still won, but throughout the South there are military installations. Musk may be pushing them into the Democratic column.

In Wisconsin, the Republicans turnout was as large as expected, but the Democratic votes surged, and Susan Crawford, the candidate who will keep the Wisconsin court liberal, easily won the election.

Musk, in his wisdom, gave millions to Brad Schimel, the Republican candidate. In a remarkable display of bad taste, Musk mocked Americans by giving two voters separate checks for 1 million dollars each.

Schimel and Musk lost big to the Democrats.

It is hardly a coincidence that within days of the election stories appeared that Musk will leave Washington. It is impossible to know if this is a wish or Trump has actually made up his mind, but one thing is sure, Congressional Republicans want Musk to leave. Stay tuned.

The other good news from this election is a magic bullet. Democrats honed in on “democracy” more than they did fascism, civil liberties, or other words damning the President. “Democracy” is who we are. Even voters with a grade-school education know and want the United States to be a democracy. The Wisconsin Democrats have given us a fighting word, and a cause that unites all members of the party and all voters in the United States. I suspect we will be hearing more about democracy and Trump’s hostility to it in the future.

Posted on by Nathan Riley

Will Knocking Republicans Increase the Democratic Vote?

Freedom Democrats offer alternatives to many Democratic planks. Legalizing sex work, drugs, and respecting the transgendered and LGBTQ+ community are promises that these planks will be priorities for Freedom Democrats.

Freedom is a core value in the United States, and Freedom Democrats are identifying areas where liberty is limited. Sometimes this is a result of erroneous ideas. If gambling and heroin are addictive, and for that matter so is food, then we should no longer blame heroin or methamphetamine for addiction. Possession of these substances is not a crime. The crime is making people use similar substances without the scientific protections offered by the Food & Drug Administration. In truth, addiction is a common way for people to confront painful problems. Sometimes, people need a doctor to work through these problems. What people don’t need are strangers telling them, “If you only stopped taking heroin, then everything would be good in your life.” Just as women are entitled to privacy when they consult a doctor about pregnancy, so should millions of other Americans be assured of privacy when they have difficult problems that are upsetting their lives and the lives of the people they love. Freedom Democrats want a new America where people can work with doctors without the DEA or judges interfering.  

Other examples of this kind of promise are higher minimum wage, Medicare for All, and support for unions. These positions would be top priorities if Freedom Democrats get elected. They answer the question: If I vote for you, what will you do for me? Democrats used to animate their campaigns with these promises.

All too often, Democrats accept the notion that criticizing Republicans will persuade voters to support them. Elon Musk may be harsh, even cruel, but trying to win elections by saying, “We are good guys. We are not Elon Musk,” will only take you so far.

Three elections on Tuesday, April 1, are testing the proposition that Democrats will become popular by criticizing Republicans. Two House seats in Florida and a Justice of the State Supreme Court in Wisconsin will be elected on April Fool’s Day.

It is also a test of the Democrats’ faith that voters should support them because they believe in good government. The Republicans take a different tact. What did the President promise he would do: Make America Great Again. Trump was running to lower taxes, reduce government spending, raise wages, and get deals from foreign countries that would help the United States prosper. It will come as a surprise to some Democrats that millions of voters believed that he wanted to make the United States stronger and better.

A huge number of Democrats thought the Republican proposals were malarkey. They chose to say baloney and mocked the Republicans. In their anger, they forgot to tell the voters what they would do to help them in their lives.

Franklin Roosevelt was just as emphatic as Donald Trump. He promised Americans they would get “A New Deal.” Vague, you bet, so is Make America Great Again. But Roosevelt’s genius transformed the misery of the Great Depression into a promise of a better future. Once he took office, Roosevelt, among other things, created jobs, provided income to farmers, and started the Tennessee Valley Authority that brought jobs and electricity to a big chunk of the South.

This is a plea to the Democrats to push for a better America and stop believing that complaining about Trump’s fascism is a good way persuade voters. Bernie Sanders clearly understands this, but his ideas come out as a list without a slogan. The many smart people who back Democrats can and should do better.

April 1st will be a test. Will Democrats increase their vote? Or are we still looking for the man who can mobilize this country in a positive direction?

Posted on by Nathan Riley

What Do I Get For My Taxes?

Ralph Nader is a sharp critic of the Democratic Party. For example, he believes the Party made a fatal mistake when they abandoned most states to the Republicans.

Like many critics, he thinks the D’s dug a hole when they devoted their efforts to impeaching and damning Trump. Sensible voters want to know, “What will you do for me?” Hating Trump does not answer this question.

Nonetheless, Nader remains pragmatic. “We’re sick of not having the government return the benefits of massive taxation to us.”

 “All we hear about is empire abroad. All we hear about is more military budgets.”

His attack on the Defense budget is widely shared among left voters. The attackers wish this agency was a giant piggybank that could pay for programs that voters will love, like the expensive proposition of providing healthcare for all. This view is untested in elections. No candidate besides Nader has pushed it, and when he ran he was damned as a spoiler: a vote for him was viewed as a vote for Republicans. Like most Americans, Nader believes the nation and the party is controlled by wealthy donors. Having good ideas for changing this dominance would be popular and improve Democratic chances.

Good advice, even from an unfriendly source, deserves serious consideration. His test: making the government return the benefits of massive taxation is realistic and a guide for supporting or rejecting Democratic policy ideas.

He clearly lowers the importance of helping the transgendered, people of color, women, and other groups. His criterion is good policy is universal. It can answer the question “What will it do for me?” Using this test, the Democrats top priority should be finding policies that bring benefits to every voter.

The most obvious example is ending the copays and the costs of medical insurance. It’s an ambitious idea, saying that a person seeing a doctor shouldn’t have to reach for their wallet will be expensive. It would require constant political support. European countries regularly limit their medical budgets to keep costs in line. Obviously, that restricts some medical care.

 Such a program may be impossible in the United States, given the opposition to taxation. Countries like Sweden devote 41.4% of their gross domestic product to taxes, in return for free college, free medical care, and comprehensive laws governing vacation time, hours of work. A degree of government supervision that would make most Americans apprehensive.

Nonetheless, Democrats should find ways to reduce the cost of medical care. It is a basic program that voters will greet with approval.

Their recent record is discouraging. Since 2023, Congress has passed laws to bring high-speed internet connections to rural areas and schools. The thought is there, but nothing happens. On January 6, 2025, the new Congress updated the laws and time will tell if the high speed connections are installed. The failure by the Democrats to translate the thought into deeds is a reason why rural states are red and backed Trump.

It should be easy to do. Democrats and Republicans favor the idea. It would be a real-life example to the question, “What do we get for our taxes?” Hopefully, these connections will finally go into effect.

Reviving the Democrats requires actual changes to people’s lives. It is one thing to see the need for improving infrastructure, but voters are clearly correct; they want to know what actually got built. Joe Biden made this a priority, but the Democrats never convinced the public that the construction made the United States better.

Nader’s test showing voters how high taxes improve their lives is pragmatic and sensible. Democrats should adopt this test. Surely, the voter who asks, “I pay all these taxes, what do I get?” deserves more than a pat on the back. He or she should actually see the benefits. Reviving the Democratic Party means doing things, not talking about them.

Posted on by Nathan Riley

Freedom Democrats Are for Everybody

The Freedom Democrats’ biggest attraction will be its weekly parties, a chance to dance, make friends, even dates.

But Democrats also need non-fun skills. It’s an opportunity for those who had bad experiences with school and people who use their education to be successful to work together. All too often these groups live separate lives. The parties should try to make these groups have fun together.

Not everything in politics is fun. For example, politically active people should identify the districts in their community. Almost every community has multiple districts. One way elected officials stay in power is by understanding or even changing their districts so they get the biggest vote.

In state government, the state senators will have one district; in the other house, be it called the assembly or house of delegates, each member will have a different district.

At the local level, the members of the town council in larger cities may also have separate districts. It’s complicated and must be learned, but you don’t have to have done well in school to know the names of streets and the people who live on them. This task can be done by people with an education working with people who wish to keep learning.

In small towns, there may be no districts, but usually at the county level there are officials who are elected by district. In every state, there are officials who are elected statewide, meaning their district is the entire state. For example, the state attorney general and governor.

Like I said, it’s complicated, but learning how it works may help Freedom Democrats change laws and create new policies. And that, after all, is the goal of the Freedom Democrats. People who know these things may find decent jobs and become activists in their state.

Politics offers the chance for those who graduated from college to work with people who never finished school.

The basic goal is to protect the lifestyles of people who like to party. Not everyone will have a family and stay at home. Not everyone is happy with only one lover; some people like the thrill of the hunt. The Freedom Democrats exist to protect the lifestyle of people who watch porn, date sex workers, go out drinking—in a word, party.

Learning about the politics in your community will help you and your friends find space to live the life you choose.

Freedom Democrats exist to resist those who say their lives, based on love and monogamy, is superior. It will resist those who believe their life is so virtuous that everyone should live like they do.

Freedom Democrats are not trying to take over, are not trying to force people to live a certain way. Rather, the group exists to protect the lives of people who are often criticized and quite likely chased by police enforcing bad laws.

Sometimes the cause is straightforward. Adults should have the right pay for sex without having to commit to a relationship. Living in a legal environment is a good thing. It offers space for people to learn why their choices are legitimate and escape the sense of shame imposed by those who believe they have made superior choices.

In other words, making activities legal can increase confidence and self-knowledge. It allows people to meet, talk, and learn new ways of looking at their lives. It encourages pride. For example, sixty years ago gay guys were often called “faggots,” and women were ridiculed as “dykes.” To fight these demeaning attitudes, people who enjoyed same sex fun insisted on gay pride. They fought back against the terrors of AIDS and became politically influential.

The fight against AIDS led many people to become puritanical, to label people who had multiple sex partners as “promiscuous,” and become suspicious of people who used medications rather than condoms to stop the spread of AIDS.

Freedom Democrats will find that many LGBTQ+ people oppose their program. The group will also find that many straight people are friendlier.

Part of the fun of becoming a Freedom Democrat is engaging with many different viewpoints. It helps a person find happiness and make sense of their lives.

So what are you waiting for? Call your friends and start throwing a Freedom Democratic party.