Bret Stephens recently argued that if Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor of New York City, Republicans should welcome it. A Mamdani victory, he suggests, would make Democrats unelectable by exposing their radicalism and disconnect from ordinary Americans. It’s a tempting thought; but it’s dangerous.
New York isn’t just another city—it’s a global hub of culture, commerce, and creativity. To treat its decline as a political opportunity is to forget what it contributes to America’s economy and soul. A Mamdani administration wouldn’t just misgovern; it would fracture the civic ecosystem that allows New York to thrive—and in doing so, undermine a cornerstone of American dynamism.
New York has long drawn ambitious people from around the world—those who want to build, connect, and create. Its uniqueness lies not in its skyline, but in its density of networks: artists and bankers, coders and lawyers, chefs and marketers—all colliding in shared space. That proximity fuels knowledge spillover: ideas cross-pollinate, accelerate, and scale.
It’s no accident that Hamilton emerged here, where history and ambition coexist. Nor is it a coincidence that fashion, finance, and publishing still call this city home. Cities like Austin or Nashville are vital, but only New York fuses culture and commerce at such scale and speed.
This isn’t just economics. It’s about values. The city’s animating ethos has always been meritocratic: come here, work hard, and you can make it—regardless of who your parents were. It’s noisy, imperfect, and expensive, but also one of the last places where talent still beats pedigree.
That ethic is under threat. Mamdani and others like him don’t just challenge policies — they reject the premise of New York’s success. His campaign doesn’t merely push for more services or taxes. It frames the city, and the country, as morally bankrupt. In his view, capitalism isn’t to be refined — it’s to be dismantled. Institutions aren’t flawed — they’re irredeemable. The goal isn’t to expand opportunity but to seize and redistribute power.
This isn’t a nostalgic plea for 1990s Giuliani-era New York. Nor is it an endorsement of Wall Street or real estate magnates. New York has always needed reform — on housing, policing, education, and more. But Mamdani-style governance isn’t reform. It’s reaction; it’s grievance over growth, ideology over innovation, and a vision of America defined more by its sins than its promise.
Read the rest of this piece at AEI.
Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Photo: Empire State Building, NYC - by Sam Valadi, via Flickr under CC 2.0 License.
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