Gary Varvel: The warmth of collectivism

Do property owners in New York City really own their property? Not anymore.

Writing for National Review, John R. Puri notes that “the government has reduced landlords from owners to administrators of ‘public’ resources.” New York City has handcuffed property owners with relentless regulations. Recently, Mamdani fulfilled a core campaign promise when the city’s Rent Guidelines Board voted 7–1 to approve a two-year rent freeze on roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. Even as property owners face skyrocketing expenses, they are legally barred from raising rent.

We’ve seen Big Government socialism in action—and its name is Mamdani.

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In the Men in Black movies, agents use a neuralyzer to erase memories and replace them with new ones. That seems to be exactly what Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez needs if she expects voters to forget “Woke 1.0.”

During an appearance on ABC’s This Week, Ocasio-Cortez raised eyebrows when she echoed a NYC councilman’s sentiment, laughing off the movement by agreeing that “Woke 1.0 was crazy.” But what, exactly, was so crazy about it? I’d love to hear her spell that out on the record.

Don’t hold your breath for a full confession. She isn’t about to admit she was wrong; she simply wants voters to forget the radical policies she championed back when the political winds were blowing in a different direction. Take her active support for stripping funds from the NYPD’s $6 billion budget to redirect into social programs, public housing, and education.

Then there was her fierce crusade against Amazon setting up its secondary headquarters (HQ2) in Long Island City, Queens—right next door to her congressional district. That standoff effectively killed a deal projected to bring between 25,000 and 40,000 jobs to the area.

Fox News host Jesse Watters suggested that AOC’s sudden pivot means she is quietly positioning herself for a White House run. Democratic pundits will likely frame this shift as evidence of a pragmatic leader coming of age. But if she is truly walking back her extreme progressive roots, one question remains: why is she still a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America?

I had the great privilege of speaking in the morning service at Chesterfield Community Church of God last Sunday. This is my message on the Faith of the Founding Fathers.

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