New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a self-defined Democratic Socialist, which has earned him a lot of criticism from people on the other side of the aisle, like Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. But this week, comedian Theo Von, who has seemingly aligned himself with right-leaning individuals over the years, sat down with Mamdani to learn a bit about his beliefs.
When asked to define socialism, Mamdani described it as a system that allows everyone to have “everything you need to live a dignified life.”
Mamdani Defines Socialism
During a recent episode of Von’s podcast This Past Weekend with Theo Von, the comedian flat-out asked Mamdani for his definition of socialism, given some confusion that seems to exist regarding the term.
“I want to talk a little bit about socialism, because it’s a buzzword,” Von said. “Would you define socialism for us? Because people say it a lot and don’t know what it is. And sometimes, those people are me.”
Zohran Mamdani explains his definition of socialism to Theo Von: “Socialism to me means you’ll have whatever you need to live a dignified life and that it is the government’s job to deliver on that. When people say dignity we’re talking about the things that allow you to take a… pic.twitter.com/as6dDrf1v3
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“Socialism, to me, means that you will have whatever you need to live a dignified life and that it is the government’s job to deliver on that. It’s a belief that you shouldn’t live in a place where all you can do is pick your own leaders. You should also have that power in the rest of your life. People talk about it as the extension of democracy from the ballot box to the rest of your life.”
What is Dignity?’
Mamdani went on to explain what he means by “dignity” in this context.
“When people say dignity, I want to be very clear, we’re talking about the things that allow you to take a breath: Housing, childcare, public transit,” Mamdani said. “No one should be priced out of these things. These are non-negotiables; you need these to live.”
Mamdani explained some confusion he has with critics of socialism as he pointed out that much of the country already operates under this principle.
“And what I think is so confusing is that there’s part of life in our country that lines up with this belief. Public education – we believe that everyone should be able to go from K through 12 for free, and they do. Libraries – we believe that everybody should be able to read a book that they’d like to for free, and they do. But when it comes to early childhood education – before Kindergarten – we’re comfortable with people paying $20,000 a year to afford it,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani quoted a study that found that for a family of three in New York City to be able to afford childcare, they need to be able to make $330,000 a year.
“To me, even what used to be enough money 10 years ago is not enough money,” Mamdani said. “The struggles of affordability apply to more people than you typically think. As a socialist, what I’m fighting for is that nobody is priced out of dignity. And there’s just a comfort right now in living in a country where the market gets to determine everything – not just luxury – but dignity, too. We say, ‘I’m sorry, you don’t have enough money to afford a home.'”
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