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Sarah Walker's avatar

This was fascinating and I finally was able to connect some thoughts that have been floating around my head for a while.

One thing though - does Mamdani want people to rely on government programs, or is he trying to create a culture where people know they can rely on government programs if they need them? One creates a new form of control, the other creates freedom by relieving stressors.

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Maria Brunko's avatar

While interesting, there are many cracks (rips?) in this fabric of America. I live in Texas, which is a part of the “Greater Appalachia” according to Woodard. Over the last decade I have seen a few things that make me think this is more of a rear view mirror than windshield idea. I have seen a city and community that looks more like New York than Texas. We just elected a Muslim mayor (our city keeps mayoral races non partisan.) We successfully defeated Mom’s for Liberty school board candidates. We fly our Pride flags, Palestine flags, and support our local city library. Our school district sends home important papers in multiple languages, and our neighbors run a refugee outreach center. I’ve also seen Republicans in Texas do whatever they can to change the rules to win and maintain power, all while campaigning to fix problems that they’ve created. I’ve seen billionaires buy our governor and help primary opponents to get his school voucher bill passed, that was a majority of Texans did not approve of. Tarrant county is currently going through redistricting/gerrymandering issues, and Trump himself called on our governor to redraw (aka gerrymander) the Dallas area district so Rep Jasmine Crockett cannot win. Our voter ID laws contribute to some of the worst voter suppression. The Republican’s behavior can be explained by this cultural view of America’s past, but America’s present and future is breaking through, and seeing a candidate like Mamdani succeed (even so far away in New York) is going to appeal to many of us who are more than willing to rip this old fabric to shreds.

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