Mamdani win showed Dems don't have to move to the center to win elections | Letters

Mamdani win showed Dems don't have to move to the center to win elections | Letters

Show Caption Hide Caption Zohran Mamdani responds to President Trump's threats New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani responded to President Donald Trump's threats of arrest, saying it's "an attack on democracy."

Sara Pequeño wrote a wonderful opinion piece in the Free Press online edition a couple weeks ago that I hope Democrats heed. ("Democrats don't need to move to the center. Mamdani proves progressives can win." Detroit Free Press, June 26.) The article pointed out that Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City shows that we don’t have to move to the center to win elections.

The common thought is that Democrats have moved too far left, that they are too progressive. If they want to become relevant, they need to be more moderate to appeal to more Americans. On the surface, this seems like a valid point. Move to the middle where most people are. However, by doing that, you are losing what it means to be a Democrat who really wants to make change. You are abandoning the people and the passion that goes with being a progressive, and in turn losing support.

As Pequeño pointed out, a big problem is the word socialist. In an effort to combat the bias of this word, she astutely pointed out that Democratic socialists are not socialists. They are just progressive Democrats who are proponents of very popular positions. We have increasingly become a populist nation, and we need to ride this movement to the left.

A Democratic socialist wants affordable health care, fair housing costs, healthy food for all, equitable education and for the richest of the rich to pay just a bit more in taxes to make it all possible. These are not radical ideas, and are in fact extremely popular, polling at 60-70% consistently. So why are we dragging ourselves to the “center”? Is it social? Do we feel like we need to be just a little bit more racist, sexist or homophobic to pull the racist, sexist and homophobic vote? Is it economic? Do we agree that billionaires and corporations do have an unfair advantage in our country, but raising taxes even a little bit is just out of the question?

The majority of Americans agree with progressive principles, but conservatives historically vote better. Let’s give Democrats something to get excited about, something to rally around. Then we will get motivated to campaign, knock on doors, donate and vote. The progressives that we elect will then do the “crazy liberal” things that most Americans actually want.

Trump will never win the Nobel Peace Prize

The road to President Donald Trump’s highly coveted Nobel Peace Prize may ultimately run through Ukraine, but only if the Trump administration abandons its ad hoc approach to achieving its foreign policy objectives.

The departure from established U.S. strategic commitments, combined with a reliance on improvisation and instinct by the president, is antithetical to advancing peace initiatives between Russia and Ukraine. Add inconsistent messaging to the mix, and it won’t matter how many nominations, from those seeking to curry favor with Trump, are submitted to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, as the status quo will remain unchanged.

True brokers of peace understand the need for consistency, as it builds trust and increases the likelihood of a positive outcome. Trump’s approach to the Ukraine conflict lacks a coherent strategy. Absent a change from the all over the board approach to a targeted goal, receiving a Nobel Prize becomes a zero-probability event.

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