It seems that we Americans are always looking for love in all the wrong places, especially when it comes to politics and politicians.
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Our latest love affair is happening with socialism, not the European kind, that has become gentrified and is a bedrock of the body politic of many European nations. The American brand is a flashy, over the top kind of socialism that hails the third-world and Chinese varieties, and excels in its excess.
For many people, excess is seen as good, or as the “Wall Street” film’s corporate raider Gordon Gecko said, “Greed is good.”
While he was referring to base human nature he was also speaking of capitalism and the profit motive. He was unapologetic in his belief and his lifestyle proved his point.
Gecko wasn’t opposed to the trickle-down theory of wealth formation, he just didn’t place it at the top of his belief system pyramid. If some or even many people benefited from his investments, great. The important thing was that HE benefited first and foremost and it’s that attitude that many on America’s left despise.
The need for greed is one of the oldest human pursuits and it is one that has always created con men. George Parker was a professional swindler who lived in New York in the 1880s and got rich taking advantage of the greedy. He claimed he owned several public structures like: the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Madison Square Garden and even President Grant’s Tomb!
He’s most famous for selling and reselling the Brooklyn Bridge to unsuspecting foreigners and wealthy but inexperienced investors. Parker understood human nature. He dressed well, spoke and lied sincerely, and presented good arguments for why he needed to sell the bridge.
People fell for his pitch and his exploits became a popular meme that humiliated those duped by con men. It was said that: “If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.” His scheme worked because its hierarchy was built on five basic conditions: 1. the con man had to express or assert his authority; 2. he needed to stress the scarcity of the commodity (in this case the bridge); 3. he had to appeal to the buyer’s basic greed and then 4. he had to gain their trust. Though Parker was successful on all levels and sold and resold the bridge many times he was eventually caught and sentenced to prison where he died in 1936.
New York has been the epicenter of con men and corrupt politicians throughout U.S. history. William M. Tweed (“Boss Tweed” as he was called) who proceeded Parker was a political boss who used corruption, bribery, patronage, and fraud to steal enormous sums of public money. He was a thief who gained political power and wielded it ruthlessly against the public through the use of a criminal network proving that Americans can be bought, bribed and bamboozled not only by greed and power but by hope.
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Enter New York’s newest Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, the Ugandan-born, 35-year old, rising star of American socialism.
Mamdani is a savvy politician. He understands how to win friends and influence people. He also knows the value of good timing. Like Parker and Tweed he also knows what his constituency wants and needs, and like all good socialists he uses a universal message to appeal to their “better natures.” That message is: “What is good for the group is good (enough) for the individual and that to achieve a “level playing field” a little income must be redistributed and a few freedoms will have to be relinquished.” In short, some will have to do without so that others’ lives can be improved.
Mamdani is a good salesmen and he has a product whose time has come … for some
Mamdani, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Abdul El Sayed (the recent winner of the Democrats’ nomination for candidate for the Senate seat from Michigan) smile a lot.
They are all young and personable and they all fulfill the qualifications of good con men/women. They exude authority (especially moral authority). They all stress the scarcity of the commodity for sale (wealth in the U.S. due to the wealth disparity). Then there is the greed or in this case their contention that the elite are stealing from everyone and that they deserve to take some back and spread it around more “equitably.” Then, after their case has been made, they ask for the sale by appealing to the disadvantaged to trust them and vote for them so that they have the power to upend the status quo and create a new status quo.
Not since the Great Depression have so many aspects of economic, political and cultural life in America come together to create a perfect storm of opportunity for socialists as now in 2026 with only eleven weeks to go to the mid-term elections for all of Congress and a third of the Senate.
The new American socialists feel emboldened. They have made inroads with the young and with the older college-educated White suburbanites and with inner-city dwellers. They have excited the minorities with their promises of “free stuff” and “liberation” from the cost of services like transportation and child care and are even toying with the idea of providing free food and heavily subsidized housing. They are doing all of these things with the serene smile of a Buddhist monk who speaks in measured tones. They are not the Black Panthers or the SDS of the sixties and they are not burning American flags because they know that “yes we can” is a better selling proposition than promoting a revolution on the streets through fiery rhetoric.
They are keenly aware that average Americans feel that their government is ignoring them and that the economy is not working for them. They also know that in order for socialism to be successful in America, Americans must be convinced that they are victims of an oppressive capitalist-dominated system that marginalizes them and that they have been forced into accepting that premise. According to the El Sayeds, the AOCs, the Mamdanis, the Warrens and the Sanders, the only way America can truly be great again is by giving up on its belief in the sovereignty of the individual. Hopefully, that will be a bridge too far for most voters and is one that the American public will not buy in November.
Stephen Helgesen is a retired American diplomat specializing in international trade. He has lived and worked in 30 countries over the course of 25 years under the Reagan, G.H.W333. Bush, Clinton, and G.W. Bush administrations. He is the author of fifteen books, seven of them on American politics. His latest book deals with the Danish-American relationship, written in both Danish and English. He has penned more than 1,500 articles on politics, economics, and social trends. He now lives in Denmark and is a frequent political commentator in Danish media. He can be reached at: [email protected]
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