Sewer Socialism

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• Ceit

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(Image from Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District website) Well, now that a seemingly real socialist has been elected mayor of the biggest city in the US, we might stop to ask ourselves what that means for the future. Not only for New York, but also for the Demoncratic party, the Republican party, and other assorted third parties with big ideas. To be perfectly honest, I have not dug deep into Mamdani's platform (yet), but there do seem to be echoes of the early 20th century "Sewer Socialists" who made Milwaukee one of the best cities to live in at the time. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS428 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqIkIVyik5w (55:26) Obviously, I'm not the only or the first person to see the connections, although not everyone is optimistic: https://www.slowboring.com/p/learning-from-milwaukees-sewer-socialists I'm gratified to see Mamdani apparently hoping to follow in the footsteps of those Midwestern public servants who used government to serve the people, building up public infrastructure and the baseline of quality of life. We can see his platform outlined on this campaign page: https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform But now that he's won, what will he be able to do? While many people support the initiatives, there will be conflict in enacting them, which ones get precedence, which ones can wait, etc. You can blithely predict that you'll simply collect more taxes from the most moneyed among your constituency, but how will you get a jump on closing the loopholes that they will surely find? Affordable housing has been a real thorn in the side of America for ... ever, really. But as the country urbanized it became more pressing to house greater numbers of people in a smaller area, or give them means of traveling to the places they need to go, be they work, school, shopping destinations or back home. Housing projects do not have the best reputation among Americans, but what else can we do? Contrary to what some right-wing kneejerks would say, the Milwaukee Sewer Socialists did not focus on controlling business to generate revenue, but cracked down on corruption in the government itself and its dealings with infrastructure. What will Mamdani's relationship to NYC's business be? His platform does mention labor protections and stimulus for small business and small owners. Will he manage to achieve at least some of his stated goals, without complete blockage from the opposition? Will there be a left-wing paradise established in NYC, a utopia for some, a dystopia for those who don't know the difference between socialism and communism (and fascism, let's just say it)? https://www.gocomics.com/chipbok/2025/11/11 https://www.gocomics.com/eric-allie/2025/11/08 https://www.gocomics.com/garyvarvel/2025/11/05 https://www.gocomics.com/stevekelley/2025/11/12