this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2026
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Just a reminder to the Mamdani stans in Lemmy, at some point he will (or already has) done things you will disagree with, because you have to make compromises in politics, and I fear the left doesn't understand that basic fact of the job and are always too ready to completely cut ties with anyone who doesn't check all the boxes at all times. The left's motto is "I want it perfect or nothing at all!" and this is great if you're an artist, not so great if you're trying to push a largely liberal population to better outcomes.
Whatever missteps you think you will think you're seeing are going to get amplified by the worst voices on the left too, with a lot of "Wow I thought I liked this guy, but this is uncool" sentiments. Just be ready for it, don't let yourself be influenced by mobs of people you think are your peers.
edit: yah, lot of people don't understand the actual job of politics and think they do from watching TV and movies. I worry deeply for our future.
"The Left needs to fall in love; The Right simply falls in line."
This is not about just one political opinion it something common in all political opinions.
what? there is many good movies and TV-shows that correctly reflect (sometimes even make feel) politics
the politically correct thing is very often not the morally correct thing and it sucks. it's the reason i am not in politics and also not in prison (i think i would probably set something on fire)
Well said, and I agree. I have done a lot of community work but backed out of actual political work when I had the offer because I know how gross the game will feel to swim around in it. I have mad respect to the rare political leaders out there who retain their values and sanity while dipping into a world that treats all our lives and futures like pieces on a gameboard, where you have to be willing to sacrifice pieces to win.
Anybody who expects a100% perfect politician is a fool
Agreed but the top comment of this reply chain is so disingenuous. It's like someone posting "Hey guys, its my birthday!", then they pop in to be contrarian and say "don't forget you are going to die someday."
I don't get why they left a comment like this. Are they upset Mamdani won? If they actually like Mamdani they could have said "I hope the American people continue to support people like Mamdani if or when it comes out that they aren't some perfect superhero, and are just human like all of us".
Specifically the comment focuses on the left and attacks them as being non-compromising, and acts like this is a fact, when the left has shown its self to be quite compromising time and time again.
Remember its not left vs right, but top vs bottom and the only attacks done should be on the top. Anything else is divisive and helps the billionaires stay in power.
And then there's the other segment of the population who say "we can never have a perfect politician, SO MIGHT AS WELL ELECT A DUMB VERSION OF HITLER JUST TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS"
Anyone who expects a system based on collaboration and conpromise to bend 100% to their will was a fucking miserable entitled jackass to play with as kids.
Right. More than 0% would be nice, though.
Already happening. He has a good working relationship with governor Hochul and endorses her above a DSA candidate.
But she put out her neck for him and made things possible. If he did not reciprocate nobody in Albany would cooperate with him any more.
Somewhat related based on arguments I keep seeing, the number of people who don't understand that Albany is the state capital and that New York is a state as well as a city, and that the mayor of New York has to also deal with a governor, is really frighteningly high. What the fuck are people learning in school? Anything at all?
I’m Canadian, so I didn’t learn anything about new York at all.
Prolly depends on where they are from, I'm from SoCal and was convinced that New York was a city state until I was like 11. I could see other people having the same thought for even longer if they aren't told explicitly like how my history and geography classes did, looking at you Utah and your idiotic claim that you guys colonized San Bernardino, you cunts.
It's not entirely wrong to think of nyc that way. It's not strictly true, but practically the city dictates much of the state's politics. It's similar with Chicago and Illinois.
There's no DSA candidate in the primary. Hochul was running against another centrist (who has since withdrawn due to no chance of winning).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_New_York_gubernatorial_election
edit: can the downvoter please name the DSA candidate in the 2026 NY gubernatorial election, it should be pretty easy to find since I linked the article if they exist
Ok we do have to compromise, but the compromises are what got us into this mess in the first place. Like you can't compromise with capitalism because the compromise was either genocide really fast or slower genocide. Sometimes the compromise will get you nowhere.
Our entire society is built on capitalism and the influences of capital, you simply do not make any progress without SOME level of compromise or incorporation of capitalist principles and standards into your policy-making and community building, so black-and-white interpretations of how this works are exactly the danger I was warning about. He's pro-socialism, sure... but that doesn't mean you're going to see New York city become socialist.
Ok well let's take healthcare for example. If you compromise with capitalism, you can't eliminate insurance companies. Even tho socialized medicine has proven to be a better model for decades, compromise with capitalism got us Obamacare which is technically better than the previous model but it didn't make anything cheaper and it was prone to subsequent administrations gutting it.
Or compromising with the military industrial complex, means we still build weapons and fight wars and fund genocides. What exactly can the compromise be?
You can go through multiple industries and you'll find that as soon as you say "someone still needs to profit" then the game is over. Whatever you were trying to fix suddenly becomes secondary to profit.
This is no more intelligent than the first comment you made, you're just elaborating a point I already said isn't realistic, none of this applies to reality or New York politics. It's shower-arguments.
Hey man you can try to compromise withthis system your whole life, it's not going to get better.
Once you realize that, the next conclusion is obvious.
What's your alternative? Do you think an armed revolution is going to happen? Do you think the millions of comfortable liberals are going to be fine with that?
We cannot push this all at once, all we can do is nudge the needle back towards progressivism until it starts to choke capital. We don't have an army, we don't have enough uncomfortable people, we don't have fucking leadership so lets get real.
Well one of the ways we can liberate our minds is to get off mainstream social media. So kudos to us for doing that.
I think the next steps is to create the conditions for revolution to be successful. The no 1 thing I think is to BUILD COMMUNITY. I have been volunteering at free clinics for the last few years. I try to have gatherings when I can. Then The next most important thing is to organize, so join an organization that offers something that fits. I recently was offered a job at a coop. I've attended some DSA events, trying to figure out a way to fit more of that in my life. The next most important thing is to build your independence from big tech. So get off their services as much as you can.
You're right, were not ready to take to the streets, even tho that is the real thing that needs to happen. So we as individuals can help build our independence, organize and believe in community. We can get there, it'll take a long time, but just because it seems like a big task doesn't mean we can't get there eventually.
I have been endorsing building community and working towards active participating in that for years and years and continue to endorse it as our answer to most of our worst issues, but we have to also understand that we don't get ecscape from politics, which definitionally means compromise between two or more forces. Those communities will still need representation, those representatives will still need to interact with a world that is largely controlled by forces we don't agree with, and thus people you like will have to do things you don't like from time to time, otherwise we're just roleplaying and trying to build a militia in private and that gets us nowhere.
That's all I'm saying, we do not turn our backs on people otherwise fighting for a better future just because they have to make tough choices to earn political capital. We just have to understand the nuance here and when it crosses a line to corruption.
Mussolini was not dragged out by a plucky band of rebels with their own, separatist value system, he was arrested by his own king and government due to political pressure and handed over to the opposition group. We still need to interact with the system and play the game.
I think that's probably the right course. We are forced to work with what we got and you can't abandon the people that are here. But I think it's important to be mindful that compromising will only get you so far. It will never take you all the way.