Thinking Citizen Blog — “Upton Sinclair Was 1934’s Mamdani” (Stephen Hayward, Wall Street Journal)
Thinking Citizen Blog — Saturday is Justice, Freedom, Law, and Values Day
Today’s Topic — “Upton Sinclair Was 1934’s Mamdani” (Stephen Hayward, Wall Street Journal)
Historical analogies can be useful in trying to make sense of current events. In a recent article by political commentator Stephen Hayward compared Zohran Mamdani’s recent rise to that of Upton Sinclair in 1934. Seems like a stretch to me. Is there a better one?
Today, a few excerpts from the article.
Are you a NYC voter? Will you vote for Zohran? Why or why not? How big a deal would his election be?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
“IN 1934 AUTHOR UPTON SINCLAIR CAME OUT OF NOWHERE TO WIN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIIMARY FOR GOVERNOR IN A LANDSLIDE”
1. “A dedicated socialist like Mr. Mamdani, Sinclair beat out the party’s establishment’s favored candidate, George Creel, who had run Woodrow Wilson’s World War I propaganda arm, the Committee on Public Information.”
2. “Sinclair ran on a radical platform known by the acronym EPIC for, End Poverty in California.”
3. “EPIC proposed universal old-age pensions (before Social Security), Soviet-style collective farms, state-run industries that would “produce for use, not for profit” and perhaps property confiscation.”
“JUST AS MR. MAMDANI HAS THE LUXURY OF RUNNING AGAINST AN UNPOPULAR INCUMBENT, SINCLAIR WAS CHALLENGING A WEAK AND UNPOPULAR GOVERNOR, REPUBLICAN FRANK MERRIAM (below).”
1. “Even most leading Republicans, including state party chairman Earl Warren, had no enthusiasm for Merriam, who had ascended to the office the year before on the death of his predecessor, Gov. James Rolph.”
2. “It had been assumed that whoever Democrats nominated would easily oust Merriam in November, but Sinclair’s candidacy threw both party establishments into panic and chaos.”
3. “On Election Day voters held their noses and returned Merriam to office with 1.1 million votes to Sinclair’s 879,000, with Haight (a Republican) a distant third at 302,000 votes.
If Haight had dropped out, Sinclair might have won, especially if FDR had endorsed him.
Nationwide 1934 was a Democratic landslide, with California the conspicuous exception.”
“WILL WALL STREET AND OTHER INTERESTS COALESCE AROUND A STRATEGY AND DEVOTE THE RESOURCES TO DEFEAT MR. MAMDANI?”
1. “In 1934 there was concern that the massive attack on Sinclar might backfire, and the same thing could happen the charismatic Mr. Mamdani today.”
2. “And like the delicate calculations of FDR and national Democrats, will Sen. Chuck Schumer, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Barack Obama get behind Mr. Mamdani or work quietly to undermine him?”
3. “More than just the occupant of Gracie Mansion is at stake. The future of the Democratic Party is on the ballot.”
The betting website Polymarket recently gave Mamdani an 81.4% chance of winning in November. Is he unstoppable? Does the “Anybody but Mamdani” campaign have a snowball’s chance in hell? Will Cuomo or Adams drop out of the race by mid-September?
Opinion | Upton Sinclair Was 1934’s Mamdani
Zohran Mamdani’s chances against Andrew Cuomo hit new high
‘Anybody but Mamdani’: 5 Groups Emerge to Raise Millions in Attack Funds
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
For the last four years of posts organized by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
Four special attachments below:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
#4 Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to justice, freedom, the law or basic values.
Or the coolest, most important thing you learned in your life related to justice, freedom, the law, or basic values.
Or just some random justice-related fact that blew you away.
This is your chance to make someone’s day. Or to cement in your mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart.
