SPEAK UP: What is the real threat to New York City?

With the people voting agains the high cost of living and donors arming to fight socialism, what monster does America really face?

To hear the billionaires tell it, socialism — represented by New York State Assemblyman and mayoral primary victor Zohran Mamdani — is a monster, threatening the greatness of New York City. Some are reportedly threatening to flee the city; others plan to put their money into a general election battle to defend the city against the radical ideas that threaten to transform the capital of capitalism into something unrecognizable. To them.

But for most New Yorkers, like the majority of Democratic voters who turned out to back progressives in the primary, Mamdani’s proposals are the defense against a real threat: unaffordability. And most city residents can’t pick up and move to luxury condominiums in low-tax states for 183 days of the year when they encounter strange ideas such as free buses (like they have in Akron, Ohio), or community-owned grocery stores (like they have in Erie, Kansas).

We talked yesterday with some very smart folks — mayoral candidate Brad Lander, messaging guru Anat Shenker-Osorio, and strategist and writer Waleed Shahid — about what Mamdani’s victory meant as a demonstration of how progressives could actually come together to win (something that’s eluded them in the past), what democratic socialism could mean in practice, and how a Mayor Mamdani might deal with the anxieties of the Democratic establishment, the donor class, and Republicans eager to generate another Red Scare.

But what do you think? What is the real economic threat to New York City and to life in these United States? How should progressives respond to charges that social programs that would be squarely in the political center anywhere else are threats to the American way of life? Can Mamdani demonstrate that democratic socialist approaches can solve everyday problems? How should progressives talk about their solutions? Alternately, have billionaires seized on a kernel of truth? Does further government involvement run the risk of backfiring and reducing housing supply, food availability, and transit services? We want to know how you see it.

And some other thoughts to ponder as we head into the weekend:

• Is an abortion ban even necessary for the Supreme Court to ban abortion?

• Can the life sciences survive the attack on innovation funding?

• A decade after Obergefell, what chance does marriage equality have?

• Are major news organizations paving the way for the end of trans rights?

• Where is Iran’s enriched uranium, exactly?

• In the age of A.I., is it clearer than ever that you steal a little and they throw you in jail; steal a lot and they make you king?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. As always, these open forums are for our subscribers, and, as such, we expect people to be generous and open, to listen and to share. This is your space.

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Photo by Liao Pan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images