Item — HN Reader

The base should be angry about the current level of wealth inequality. If you think they shouldn't, perhaps you are not poor and disenfranchised enough, with no disrespect for the luck you've had achieving the level of wealth you have obtained. Griffin is a villain imho, so I see no problem with calling a spade a spade. To not be a villain is easy, it is a choice to remain one.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-wealth-gap-widest-in-three-d...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-workers-just-took-home-2140...

https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distr...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_Unite...

(i realize this is a subjective, philosophical topic on "what is enough" and "how much unelected power should people have via incredible wealth" that we may simply disagree on)

1 comments

> base should be angry about the current level of wealth inequality

Sure. This is the same argument MAGA makes. You can be angry without targeting innocent Americans. (And unless you’re solely playing to your base, this is how you turn anger into policy.)

> Griffin is a villain imho

So charge him. Tax him. Performative histrionics don’t do any of that.

I also think the Griffin stunt didn’t look great, but is fine because Griffin is a dick and can afford private security. I don’t think anyone looked at the list Mamdani just published, it’s just fodder. Again, analogous to how publishing names and addresses of likely DSA supporters would be. Legal. But also a thinly-veiled threat.

We need leaders to rise to the current anger at our political and economic system. I thought Mamdani might show that way. I was wrong.

You’re entitled to your opinion, which I can respect. It will take time to move the Overton window to get more DSA candidates elected to enact policy that more aggressively taxes the wealthy at the highest income and wealth levels. This is the process, if it doesn’t suit your tastes, that’s fine, but Mamdani hasn’t broken the law either in his “theatrics” as you call it. This is politics. Charge him if he has, otherwise they’re just complaints about speech you find distasteful (which, again, you are entitled to said opinion). "We are taxing these very wealthy people" is not the equivalent of calling for or aggressively supporting immediate physical harm of marginalized groups of fellow nation state residents.

> Sure. This is the same argument MAGA makes. You can be angry without targeting innocent Americans. (And unless you’re solely playing to your base, this is how you turn anger into policy.)

These are not MAGA arguments, which are broadly speaking, “Make the right people suffer and I’m willing to suffer as long as you’re also hurting people I don’t like.” [1] MAGA people hate, Democratic Socialists are seeking a more economically just world. I'm sure we'll continue to argue the methods long into the future as this plays out in the decades ahead.

[1] He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...