Now I know a country is not the same as a city, but my country, the Netherlands, is small and densily populated, so maybe they’re somewhat comparable?
I hear Mandami is considered from extreme-left to what he professes himself as democratic socialist, which to me would mean left-wing. I however keep pushing every US politician one or two positions to the right, but that’s just vibes. So I would like to compare his stances to at least five political parties from my country, but where do I start?
Should I post an ask Lemmy on each topic how they compare to Mandami starting with housing? Because I would imagine the stances of each party on just one topic would already make quite a long post.
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I’ll try and make several posts on this subject.
Part 1 - My vibes list of American youtubers & politicians
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Are there any European countries who have implemented a state owned grocery store? Or have a minimum wage of €25/hr? Or implemented a city wide rent freeze (not just rent control)?
Not saying it in a bad way as a lot of his policies are great, coherent, and well thought out, but calling him only slightly left of center is a heavy exaggeration especially when you have the UK going pretty far right on anti trans movements, Italy with their only first trimester abortions, and France with their anti face covering policies
I’m going to agree with you here.
I put Mandami left of center until I rethought
on what I often see and hear from the center-left,
and words often used by the left.
“I don’t think we should have billionaires” sounds very much left-wing to me,
rather than center-left.
I’m not comparing him to European governments.
I’m comparing him to European political standards.
Maybe I am misunderstanding what you mean by “political standards” but if you look at SPD the German slightly left of center party.
They are pushing for a 15 euro min wage and rent control
Now compare that mamdani who is pushing for a 25 euro min wage and a rent freeze.
He took two policies that are being looked at by a left of center group and took them further to the left
Then if we compare the German left party they want to reduce taxation on basic food, hygiene, and public transit through a new wealth tax of 1% for people in possession of 1m euro or greater
Back to mamdani he wants to reduce the cost of food and hygiene products by setting up a state owned grocery store and to make busses free and to fund this he wants to use an income tax of 2% after $1m
So I would argue that he is solidly left wing
Really, it comes down to perspective. As someone in the U.S., the scope of what he’s saying isn’t as radical as it might seem - if you look at the surrounding context.
New York City as expensive. Laborers to work there can’t afford to live there. 25 Euros may sound like a lot - but it’s barely a livable wage inside the city.
And American rental housing is mostly owned by a small number of massive corporations. They use computer algorithms to determine how much they can charge to earn maximum profit. Rents have gone up exorbitantly, far more than inflation or even demand. So the rents need to be held in place and stabilized. It’s a completely unregulated market.
Similarly, food stores are consolidated under a small number of mega corporations. In a functioning system, stores byproducts based on market rates, then sell them based on what people are able to pay. However, in the U.S., grocery stores dictate how much they’re willing to pay for goods. Small businesses need to bribe the distributors in order to get proper placement within grocery stores. And grocery stores I’ve been raising prices when the cost of staples go up - but then never lowering them again. Poor people can qualify to get money for food, but they aren’t able to buy enough now. Operating a food store for public good is a middle step to ensure farmers get paid and people can buy quality food.
Public transit was free for a few years during the worst of covid, and people all over the country have been campaigning to try to keep it that way.
So, taking all of the surrounding details into context? He’s not nearly as far left of center as he seems. But without the context, I understand why it may look like he’s more of an extreme leftist.
Maybe I am misinterpreting you but what I am hearing you say is: he is doing things that are all very well needed but they aren’t considered leftist because the situation right now is bad z
It’s fine that he is a leftist it’s not an insult and I agree his policies will help the city but these same policies are considered left wing policies and decently extreme left wing policies when it comes to state owned grocery stores.
That doesn’t mean it’s bad but if he tried to run under those same policies in Germany he would absolutely be in the left wing party vs the left of center party