Zoharan Mamdani’s victory in New York City Democratic Mayorl Primary is not just a local disturbing. This is a warning. He is not winning despite careless thoughts; He is winning because of them. Their platform mixes utopian slogans with policies that uproot under investigation. Many voters, especially young progressives, prefer ideological theater for real outcomes. Emotional appeal has changed intellectual rigidity, and is a dangerous change.
I see this change every day in my manhattan psychiatry practice. After seeing the incident of a disturbed pavement, a patient said, “That is why we need mamdani. He will send social workers, not the police.”
Their response was not about safety or improvement. This was the rejection of law enforcement and installation, not improvement.
Politics is not medicine. Emotions do not fix the subway, reduce crime or build housing. When emotional asana replaces real solutions, pays the weakest value.
Mamdani’s stage is not bold – it is careless. Their policies look like slogans, which work in most cases, there is a slightly serious idea behind it. “Rescue to the police” may be resonant online with some progress, but in a city where people are afraid to ride metro or walk out at night, it is touching and dangerous.
Cold fare and hiking taxes on the rich may seem appropriate, but these steps will choke the housing supply, pursue investment and make the city less cheap. These are not visionary ideas; They are shortcuts that ignore basic economics.
Many of the most enthusiastic supporters of Mamdani are young, college-educated and living in the progressive neighborhood of Brooklyn. Some trust-funds are children or students of recent beneficiaries of loan forgiveness. They live well, but make calls for radical turmoil, demanding $ 7 lates, demanding rented freeze and police elimination.
Whatever it is is not just rhetoric, it is anger towards ambition and success.Mamdani announced, “I don’t think we should have billionaires,”Progressive circles resonate, but detect a deep discomfort with the upper dynamics. While these rally can offer a sense of emotional satisfaction or justice, they are often envious of the achievements of others. In therapy, I have seen uncontrolled jealousy breed stagnation and even anger at the individual level.
New York’s Housing Crisis is undisputed.About 60 percent of the tenants spend more than one third of their income.But targeting landlords and developers will not cure the problem. It will make it worse. When the investment dries up and stops construction, the supply shrinks and the sky touchs. Basic laws of supply and demand do not disappear because a policy seems kind.
Taxing on the rich can make you feel like justice, but there is a tipping point. Push far away, and jobs, investment and tax revenue with them. You do not cure inequality by taking out the opportunity.
Mamdani rises from real frustration. Many young voters feel homeowners, burdensome to debt, and desperate for bold changes. But many times, it slips in desperation. A SPRING2025 Harvard Youth PoleIt was found that young Americans preferred housing, health care and inflation. But some give clear answers that they imagine how expanders fund the government role.
This difference between demand and reality gives fuel to the politics of complaint in spectrum, left and right. But in a one-sided city like New York, it is a radical progressist who hold the most vigorous megaphone, often amplified by a mental health culture that loses its way.
Most of today’s therapy-species validate the complaint rather than promoting growth. We reduce disagreement, encourage politics to cut the family, and accidentally prey for virtue. But the real treatment does not come from the defect, it comes from flexibility, building agency and responsibility.
The same thing applies in politics. Leaders who reward the complaint and promise extensive changes without distributing the solution do not empower people, they calm them down. The more you look, the more reliability you get, even if you do not answer. Slogans are not strategies. There is no outrage leadership.
Consider “Save the police”. With the increase in crime in recent years, calling for less officials is not just tone-def-it is negligent. New York does not require less police. It requires better trained, better-funded and more accountable officers who create confidence by keeping communities safe.
The housing suffers from the same shortcity. Breathing developers is an distraction that supplies. Instead, we should streamlined approval, participate with tax credit and private sector for inexpensive units. Increasing supply is the only real solution, not a goat of sacrifice.
Mental health is more worthy than symbolism. If Mamdani cares, it should return to proven community model and crisis reaction teams. Nevertheless, social workers cannot replace the police in every case, and are pretending to put everyone at risk.
Mamdani’s victory is not just about where the voters want to go. It also reflects deep frustration. If that frustration is fulfilled only with emotional politics and empty promises, then we will keep choosing leaders who shake emotions but distribute very little.
New York is a test case for the country. This shows what happens when political culture prioritizes complaints on development and symbolism on strategy. If we want safe, fair, more lustable city, we need leaders who focus on results, not rhetoric.
If we keep choosing emotional comfort on competence, we will keep shouting slogans instead of solution – and people who need real help will be disappointed. This is the time to choose the leaders in the results, not in the complaint.
Jonathan minority A psychiatrist and the upcoming book, the author of the “Therapy Nation”.
