There is a hunger for bold, transformative politics in the United States right now. Zohran Mamdani shows how the Left can run on a principled, disciplined message that speaks to voters’ lived concerns — and win.
I get the hesitation since in US politics they often get conflated and I can’t say I’ve followed him very closely but someone else shared this. I know he’s also advocating for city owned grocery stores.
Quite a lot of red states have state owned liquor stores,[0] so city owned grocery stores doesn’t sound that radical. Apparently, Atlanta is doing it.[1] I hadn’t heard of this idea before, but web search shows it is a thing. I’d consider it socialism if he also wants to close down the privately run grocery stores. He doesn’t seem to be doing that
The government running public alternatives isn’t socialism. Socialism is specifically about control of the means of production. The only people who think socialism is when the government does stuff are Bernie bros who think Sweden is socialist and MAGA who also think Sweden is socialist. Basically, if someone think that Sweden is socialist then they have no idea what they’re talking about.
I’m an Atlantan and this is the first I’m hearing of it. Neat!
Reading the article, though, it’s really just that the city is subsidizing a private business (and in one of the two cases, acting as its landlord) in order to create an incentive to open in a food desert, not actually getting into the business of operating a grocery store directly itself.
I mean, I got a loan from Invest Atlanta to help with the down payment on my house, but that doesn’t mean the city owns my house or that it’s some kind of ‘government housing.’
I mean, I got a loan from Invest Atlanta to help with the down payment on my house, but that doesn’t mean the city owns my house or that it’s some kind of ‘government housing.’
That really depends on who you ask these days doesn’t it.
I see. Question then is whether the store operator gets to set the prices. Donald Trump of course lives in government housing right now, so that’s ok too.
I get the hesitation since in US politics they often get conflated and I can’t say I’ve followed him very closely but someone else shared this. I know he’s also advocating for city owned grocery stores.
Quite a lot of red states have state owned liquor stores,[0] so city owned grocery stores doesn’t sound that radical. Apparently, Atlanta is doing it.[1] I hadn’t heard of this idea before, but web search shows it is a thing. I’d consider it socialism if he also wants to close down the privately run grocery stores. He doesn’t seem to be doing that
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage_control_state
[1] https://thefern.org/2025/03/are-government-owned-grocery-stores-the-answer-to-americas-food-desert-problem/
The government running public alternatives isn’t socialism. Socialism is specifically about control of the means of production. The only people who think socialism is when the government does stuff are Bernie bros who think Sweden is socialist and MAGA who also think Sweden is socialist. Basically, if someone think that Sweden is socialist then they have no idea what they’re talking about.
I’m an Atlantan and this is the first I’m hearing of it. Neat!
Reading the article, though, it’s really just that the city is subsidizing a private business (and in one of the two cases, acting as its landlord) in order to create an incentive to open in a food desert, not actually getting into the business of operating a grocery store directly itself.
I mean, I got a loan from Invest Atlanta to help with the down payment on my house, but that doesn’t mean the city owns my house or that it’s some kind of ‘government housing.’
That really depends on who you ask these days doesn’t it.
I see. Question then is whether the store operator gets to set the prices. Donald Trump of course lives in government housing right now, so that’s ok too.
so he is a socialist?
From everything I’ve seen, yes, he’s an actual socialist.
The word gets used so often as a pejorative it’s weird to see it used accurately by that crowd.
Don’t worry, Fox was quoting Trump calling him a communist today.
They say that about everyone to their left. We shouldn’t let them dictate our policy, but we keep doing it.