this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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I want to know where Mandami fits compared to my own nation's political left-right spectrum, going through his stances and theirs, how do I go about it? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 19 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) by folaht@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Now I know a country is not the same as a city, but my country, the Netherlands, is small and densily populated, so maybe they're somewhat comparable?

I hear Mandami is considered from extreme-left to what he professes himself as democratic socialist, which to me would mean left-wing. I however keep pushing every US politician one or two positions to the right, but that's just vibes. So I would like to compare his stances to at least five political parties from my country, but where do I start?

Should I post an ask Lemmy on each topic how they compare to Mandami starting with housing? Because I would imagine the stances of each party on just one topic would already make quite a long post.

[edit]

I'll try and make several posts on this subject.

Part 1 - My vibes list of American youtubers & politicians

[/edit]

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[–] comfy@lemmy.ml 6 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

The simplistic 'left-right' spectrum isn't particularly useful when it comes to something as complex and location-specific as politics, left-right is really just vibes in the end. You're on the right path by comparing policies, and it helps to understand the different contexts they're in (e.g. US red scare culture), along with the similarities you mentioned.

I think this exercise could be fun and deepen you/our understanding of politics, but at the end of the day, different cities have different material conditions (circumstances) which means the same policy may make sense in one environment but not the other. I think an insightful exercise would be to compare the DSA to your country's main demsoc parties (PvdA/GL?) and figure out the main differences and why they're different.

[–] folaht@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 hours ago

Well, when I look at the party's stances of my country I see a pattern in terms of type of language used,
so maybe one can use that to model how right or left wing one is instead of using some arbitrary
policy like gun laws as a measuring tool.

[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 7 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

You could just look up articles on his policies - given his high profile status, they're all over right now.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

Thanks for the links. I hadn't gotten around to really learning anything about this guy yet.

Most things sounded like basic things a government should do for people. The real "controversy" seems to be that he wants rich people and businesses to chip in more and not get quite as many special privileges at the sale of other people

The city owned grocery stores sound interesting. The one article said other cities have recently started testing the same idea. In Pennsylvania we have state owned liquor stores that have gotten better now that rules have been loosened to create some competition. They've traditionally been looked at as a monopoly, limiting selection and keeping prices high.

With it being just city owned stores, they'd seem to still have all the same competition that exists now, but the city could get volume pricing and not have to include massive real estate expenses into the operating costs. If it continues to be run for the benefit of the people and doesn't line anyone's pockets, it sounds like it could be a great benefit.

With the low cost housing, one thing I thought while reading is how do you keep those units from being scooped up by investors?

He's really got a lot of lofty goals, and it seems like a very intense and complicated job if he gets to be mayor. I wish him luck!

[–] folaht@lemmy.ml 1 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Hmmmm.... those are articles about him.

Does Zoltan have a written election program?
Perhaps by the tone of language I might be able to better tell on what wavelength Mandami is,
compared to the Dutch political parties.

Although I will have to adjust the translation a bit,
to retain the type of language used,
so for example I adjust the translation
in order to keep the language strong,
where strong language is used.

I'll post an example..

Extreme/Far-right stance on housing (first paragraph)
Our housing crisis keeps getting worse and worse.  
While the Constitution tells us that the government must provide a sufficient amount of housing,  
the reality is that an increasing number of Americans can't afford a roof over one's head.  
This US government completely failed.
[–] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 4 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

In European terms, he's just slightly left of center.

[–] BussyCat@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Are there any European countries who have implemented a state owned grocery store? Or have a minimum wage of €25/hr? Or implemented a city wide rent freeze (not just rent control)?

Not saying it in a bad way as a lot of his policies are great, coherent, and well thought out, but calling him only slightly left of center is a heavy exaggeration especially when you have the UK going pretty far right on anti trans movements, Italy with their only first trimester abortions, and France with their anti face covering policies

[–] folaht@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 hours ago

I'm going to agree with you here.
I put Mandami left of center until I rethought
on what I often see and hear from the center-left,
and words often used by the left.

"I don't think we should have billionaires" sounds very much left-wing to me,
rather than center-left.

[–] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not comparing him to European governments.

I'm comparing him to European political standards.

[–] BussyCat@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe I am misunderstanding what you mean by “political standards” but if you look at SPD the German slightly left of center party.

They are pushing for a 15 euro min wage and rent control

Now compare that mamdani who is pushing for a 25 euro min wage and a rent freeze.

He took two policies that are being looked at by a left of center group and took them further to the left

Then if we compare the German left party they want to reduce taxation on basic food, hygiene, and public transit through a new wealth tax of 1% for people in possession of 1m euro or greater

Back to mamdani he wants to reduce the cost of food and hygiene products by setting up a state owned grocery store and to make busses free and to fund this he wants to use an income tax of 2% after $1m

So I would argue that he is solidly left wing

[–] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

Really, it comes down to perspective. As someone in the U.S., the scope of what he's saying isn't as radical as it might seem - if you look at the surrounding context.

New York City as expensive. Laborers to work there can't afford to live there. 25 Euros may sound like a lot - but it's barely a livable wage inside the city.

And American rental housing is mostly owned by a small number of massive corporations. They use computer algorithms to determine how much they can charge to earn maximum profit. Rents have gone up exorbitantly, far more than inflation or even demand. So the rents need to be held in place and stabilized. It's a completely unregulated market.

Similarly, food stores are consolidated under a small number of mega corporations. In a functioning system, stores byproducts based on market rates, then sell them based on what people are able to pay. However, in the U.S., grocery stores dictate how much they're willing to pay for goods. Small businesses need to bribe the distributors in order to get proper placement within grocery stores. And grocery stores I've been raising prices when the cost of staples go up - but then never lowering them again. Poor people can qualify to get money for food, but they aren't able to buy enough now. Operating a food store for public good is a middle step to ensure farmers get paid and people can buy quality food.

Public transit was free for a few years during the worst of covid, and people all over the country have been campaigning to try to keep it that way.

So, taking all of the surrounding details into context? He's not nearly as far left of center as he seems. But without the context, I understand why it may look like he's more of an extreme leftist.

[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 3 points 16 hours ago

I think you're kind of comparing apples to oranges, we're pretty fucked over here right now

I'd call him a progressive. He has socialist ideals, but he's operating as a populist - he can't get out there and say "we're going to do free healthcare" because we're not there right now

It seems to me that he'll be as left-wing as the moment allows, but what he's actually pushing for is pretty tame IMO