this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2025
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After New York City’s race for mayor catapulted Zohran Mamdani from state assembly member into one of the world’s most prominent progressive voices, intense debate swirled over the ideas at the heart of his campaign.

His critics and opponents painted pledges such as free bus service, universal child care and rent freezes as unworkable, unrealistic and exorbitantly expensive.

But some have hit back, highlighting the quirk of geography that underpins some of this view. “He promised things that Europeans take for granted, but Americans are told are impossible,” said Dutch environmentalist and former government advisor Alexander Verbeek in the wake of Tuesday’s election.

Verbeek backed this with a comment he had overheard in an Oslo café, in which Mamdani was described as an American politician who “finally” sounded normal.

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[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 182 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

From a unitedstatesian:

Genuinely, thank you, European politicians and public figures, for pointing out that reasonably socialized public services are considered de rigueur by the vast majority of the rest of the developed world.

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 82 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

It felt so weird when Tim Walz was lauded as a “gift to progressives” when he was running on a platform of “kids deserve food”.

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 40 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

I live in Colorado where we just passed a resolution to pay for school lunches by a small tax on individuals making $300,000 or more.

I swear to God, there were a ton of people complaining about it. My favorite was a Facebook friend of my brother who posted "Why are we allowing people to vote on this who don't make more than $300,000 a year if it doesn't affect them? That's not how democracy works."

These people are fucking insane.

[–] Ithral@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Did you point out TABOR does require a vote for all new taxes, to include ones that don't affect everyone?

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 21 points 4 hours ago

No, since it was my brother's friend, I just told my brother that dude was a moron - and left it at that.

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[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 hours ago

The gift being that he was old and white with a proven political track record.

Politics isn't just about policy, you have to appeal to enough voters to get elected if you want to implement those policies. Unfortunately, right now in the US, "kids deserve food" is a wild progressive idea.

[–] QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works 20 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Not just the developed world as quite a lot of developing nations strive to offer these services as well.

Which is even more insane.

But at the same time, 40 or so of our states have been essentially un-developing for the last couple decades. The US is essentially a dozen first-world countries supporting a few dozen third-world countries, and the latter constantly politically attack the former. Really would be nice if those of us who live in the actually productive regions could just cut bait on the regressive states and let them find out the hard way.

[–] not_me@piefed.social 105 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

It is time for the Americans to wake up and strike for all the freedoms and benefits that we have enjoyed here in Europe for 50 years

[–] tornavish@lemmy.cafe 30 points 7 hours ago (2 children)
[–] not_me@piefed.social 13 points 7 hours ago (8 children)

Afraid or lazy ?, why not ?

[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 52 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (5 children)
[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 39 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Theres no social safety net to fall on during protests/strike but they would have to do mass strikes/protests to get those safety nets. Hell the poor excuse of social safety nets Americans do have disappear if the government just decides to shut down.

[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 37 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Keeping healthcare coupled to employment will forever be the chains on the US working class. Food, child care, many social services can be absorbed through community solidarity but healthcare costs are unbreakable.

[–] QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works 11 points 5 hours ago

It’s almost as if that is the plan

[–] virku@lemmy.world 10 points 6 hours ago

That's what unions are for.

[–] not_me@piefed.social 9 points 6 hours ago

Same like here in Belgium 100 years ago

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[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 8 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

Mostly fear, driven by stupidity. Socialism is indistinguishable from Communism and on par with Nazism in some parts of the US. There's also the myth of American exceptionalism, that we can succeed where others have failed because 'Merica.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 hours ago

Someone i know on fb literally just posted that they are glad snap ended so people have to work hard like him.

Everyone commented he was an absolute idiot. So that was good.

So yes, its American individualism at work. Fuck everyone. I got mine (especially if they have kids, then theyre 1000x more selfish, as is natural).

Wish I could move.

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[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 8 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (3 children)

TSA didn't show up to work in Houston, people are starting to protest how they can. If they're not getting paid anyway...

Edit: here's the video: https://nitter.net/Suzierizzo1/status/1985813704277991745#m

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[–] QuoVadisHomines@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

50? You got these rights in the 1970s?

[–] not_me@piefed.social 14 points 5 hours ago
[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 58 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Of course. Your Democrats are our conservative parties, and your Republicans are our rightwinger/neo-nazi parties. And we have parties, left of the American spectrum that are mainstream.

[–] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 hours ago

and dont forget to the right!

[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 54 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Yes. Thank you.

The fact that even r/democrats has banned posts about Mamdani is shocking to me. (I found out from Bluesky, went to Reddit and checked and it's true)

This dude is normal. Full stop.

EDIT: And yea, I was literally thinking these days "It's nice to see Europe influencing the US for a change"

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 15 points 3 hours ago (3 children)
[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 21 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Because Reddit is run by billionaires like any other enshittified format.

[–] CAVOK@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Head over there and promote a platform of free speech where Mamdami can be discussed. Like... this one?

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[–] SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 42 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

“Europeans recognize his vision about free public transit and universal childcare. We expect our governments to make these kinds of services accessible to all of us,” said Verbeek. “We pay higher taxes and get civilized societies in return. The debate here isn’t whether to have these programs, but how to improve them.”

Yes.

[–] volvoxvsmarla@sopuli.xyz 13 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Honestly I love taxes. I don't love that billionaires don't pay enough taxes and the unequal tax burden across different social groups but I love taxes and I love the idea of taxes. My dream would be a society where I work for basically pocket money and everything else - quality staple food and fresh food, education, healthcare, adequate housing, transportation, communication, childcare - is provided to me.

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (3 children)

Honestly, one of my biggest conspiracy theories is that US employers (which are almost universally rich conservatives) use pre-tax income specifically to garner hate for taxes. Because conservatives always want to lower taxes on the rich, so they try to poison the average person’s view on them to sway public opinion. Whenever Americans discuss their income, it is always referencing the pre-tax amount. For instance, if an American says they’re making $50k per year, they’re probably only taking home ~$42k. So they tend to see taxes as an extreme burden, because they’re always looking at their pre-tax amount when they think about their income.

The American tax code is also intentionally kept extremely confusing, to further stoke hatred for taxes. Taxes could be an automatic “hey, here’s how much you owe, and how we calculated it. Let us know if you have any deductions we missed, and we’ll amend it for you” letter from the IRS. But instead, Americans are forced to calculate their own taxes, (even though the IRS already knows how much they owe), which means every American is annually reminded of how much income they’re “losing” to taxes every year.

In contrast, the rest of the fucking world uses post-tax income, because that’s how much money you can actually plan to take home. The taxes are a consideration, but if a job advertises €50k, it means the employee is taking home €50k. The taxes are more of a given, and are handled on the backend where the employee doesn’t need to worry about it. They apply for a job that makes €50k, and they know that’s how much they’ll take home. The taxes are already calculated for them, so they don’t need to worry about it.

Same for things like sales tax. If you see an item on the shelf for $1.00, it’ll actually ring up as $1.08 (or higher, if their state also has a sales tax) at the register. So Americans are constantly reminded of how much they’re spending in taxes, because every single purchase they make is noticeably taxed and hits their bottom line. Whereas Europe just lists the post-tax amount. So Europeans don’t need to worry about sales tax, because it is already factored into the cost of the item. If they see something on the shelf for €1.00, it will only cost €1.00…

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[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

Honestly I love taxes.

Yes, thank you! I agree taxes allow us to have nicer things than we could afford individually. The problem is how our tax money is spent, on things like those fucking private/public ventures where the municipality builds the stadium, and some jackoff gets billions from it

[–] Steamymoomilk@sh.itjust.works 37 points 2 hours ago
[–] DandomRude@lemmy.world 31 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

I always found it absurd that in the richest country in the world, there is no universal health insurance, no parental leave, no public holidays, that a college education costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, that there is no protection against dismissal, that people are starving or working but still homeless because they cannot afford an apartment—all of this is inhumane, uncivilized, and a disgrace to the US, not its recipe for success; it is its downfall, as the current regime is demonstrating.

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[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 19 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

The whole "it's too expensive" thing is kind of nonsense. There are billionaires. We would get something for the money. It's not like Zohran is proposing building a 500 solid gold statue of himself, or a ballroom that would only be used by a handful of people. Healthcare, buses, grocery stores, those all actually help people and will lead to more good stuff later.

People who stay healthy later go out to concerts and spend money, or whatever.

[–] core@leminal.space 9 points 6 hours ago

Rs will say it's too expensive while at the same time giving tax breaks to businesses and millionaires/billionaires, and writing blank checks for war.

[–] Enkrod@feddit.org 9 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Giving money (especially in the form of services) to people who need it, immediatly injects money into the economy. Because needy people don't save big sums. When they have money to spend, they spend it. It remains in circulation, serving the economy until it reaches the hands of someone who can afford to not spend it. The very instant money reaches rich folk it could just as easily not exist anymore for all the good it does then.

The US cannot afford tax breaks for the rich, but injecting money into services and payments for the poor has a really good return on investment for a country.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 14 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

FOX is pushing HARD to paint him as a communist foreigner dictator.

Its working perfectly on my parents who swear he is the anti Christ. While they worship drumpf.

Help.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I would lead with your values and ask questions like why they think childcare or public transit are bad things.

[–] AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world 5 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

Oh, it's not that they think those things are bad, just that they want to be the arbiters of who deserves those things. They're not against social programs, they just want to put their churches in charge of them so they can police behavior.

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[–] ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works 14 points 4 hours ago

lol or for some child’s play. US far left ideas is basic in most countries.

[–] Justas@sh.itjust.works 11 points 7 hours ago

Am European; can confirm.

[–] tty5@lemmy.world 10 points 3 hours ago

Extreme left as defined in US falls somewhere around center-center right in EU on most issues.

[–] huppakee@piefed.social 9 points 1 hour ago

“Here, taking care of one another through public programs isn’t radical socialism. It’s Tuesday.”

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 7 points 3 hours ago

Yeah, there is very little that is "radical" about Zohran. Especially when you contrast that with what the Republican Party is actually carrying out against the American people right now and we don't even have to get into what they may or may not believe or what they want to do, in theory. We can see that with our own eyes.

That's not even getting into the completely crazy shit that their funders are influenced by: insane dumbasses like Curtis Yarvin, who is so full of Dunning-Kruger that he seemingly is convinced he's a genius and books like The Sovereign Individual.

It's also not getting into how the more overtly racist part of the party is excited by books like The Camp of the Saints....

[–] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 hours ago

There a socialist, here a right wing.

Wait until you get to know the European Left.

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