Op Ed - The Nine Most Terrifying Words in the English Language

Elizabeth Cummings, NC - Editor-in-Chief

Zohran Mamdani delivers remarks after swearing into office on January 1. Photo credits: New York government official photo.

In a crowded press room in 1986, Ronald Reagan warned Americans of what he deemed as the “nine most terrifying words in the English language…: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

Unfortunately for New York voters, it was already too late to turn back when the recently elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani, delivered a victory speech on Nov. 4 that was shockingly similar to the Gipper's warnings.  

“We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about,” Mamdani boldly claimed.

So why is this concerning? Why are the warnings expressed by Reagan four decades ago relevant to New Yorkers and all Americans today?

It’s simple: Reagan's statement wasn't just a political catchphrase. It was rooted in the belief that Americans can govern themselves and manage their resources far better than a few elitists in a distant government. That Americans know what is best for themselves, for their families, for their businesses. When empowered with equal opportunity and liberty, they have the capacity to build a brighter future for themselves and their neighbors.

That there is no problem too significant for individuals to solve, nor any concern too small for them to overcome. This principle is the essence of our nation. The values of self-government are at the very heart of our republic's founding.

Yet as he was sworn into office on the Quran, next to his wife wearing $600 designer boots on Jan. 1, Mamdani’s sentiments again echoed those of communist leaders responsible for the death of millions, rather than those of American ideals, which have created the most prosperous free nation in the history of the world.

His words, "We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism," blend perfectly with "The individual is nothing; the collective is everything," said by none other than Joseph Stalin, and Vladimir Lenin’s, "The interests of the individual must be subordinated to the interests of the collective."

The real danger here  is twofold.

First, while this rhetoric seems optimistic, it undermines the people's autonomy, placing power in the hands of an already inefficient and under-equipped government.

The policies Mamdani seeks to impose, such as raising taxes on the rich and instituting government-run grocery stores, are utterly incompatible with reality.

When large businesses and millionaires get taxed in New York, they don't stay; they have no concern with Mamdani’s socialist goals or the redistribution of wealth. And, they certainly have no interest in donating to Mamdani’s government donation program, introduced immediately after his election.

They leave. And they already have. And when they do, they leave behind them a government without the resources necessary to fund welfare programs. A government that is forced to post advertisements asking for funds to aid its transition. They leave behind lower and middle-class Americans without jobs or the means to escape New York as well.

Secondly, Mamdani’s promises are philosophically implausible and, by nature, counterintuitive. Rather than building genuine community, socialism reduces the individual to an element, a part of a broader socioeconomic organism. In the midst of the Cold War, John Paul II reminded us that socialism “makes it much more difficult for [someone] to recognize [their] dignity as a person, and hinders progress towards building an authentic human community.”

Mamdani’s principles have been tried many times. Open any history book and discover they don’t ever work. New Yorkers did not heed the warnings of Reagan nor those of history.

Our future, our hope, as Ronald Reagan points out, is not in the government, nor is it found in subduing our individuality: “Government can provide opportunity. It can pave the way. But ultimately, it is individuals like yourselves who brave new horizons, expand freedom, and create better lives for us all.”