(A column of opinion by Gary Reid, Publisher Emeritus)

Mamdani provides Leftist plan

I mentioned on this space a few days ago about the Russian premier who predicted the fall of America to communism without a shot being fired.

The nomination of Democratic socialist (his term for his political beliefs) Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City makes that prediction seem possible.

Socialist-communists always like to give the impression that what they profess to offer – low rent and groceries, free child care and bus fare – and lots of other stuff – are going to be free.

The politicians know that nothing’s free but it gets the vote of the naive and ignorant.

Anyone with half a brain knows that somebody is going to have to pay for goods and services.

Mamdani is a prime example of the leftist flimflam artist.

He pretends that he can pay for the free stuff he is offering by sticking it to the affluent. He said he would make it possible by taxing the white and other affluent neighborhoods at high rates. He also is a believer in getting rid of the police.

Surely Mamdani knows this is nonsense but many of the people he will rely on to win the election don’t.

Mamdani knows that the target of his punishing taxes will leave for greener pastures, like many have already done.

New Yorkers have been fleeing high taxes and lawlessness for places like Florida and Texas. Undoubtedly, Oklahoma has received a few of the disillusioned Northerners.

Google reports: “From April of 2020 to July of 2022, the New York City population declined by 5.3 percent. This decline of 468,293 residents … wiped out almost three-quarters of the population gains from the prior decade.”

Google also provides this report: “In 2023, New York was among only eight states with shrinking populations, alongside California, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.”

America is split politically almost down the middle due in no small part to the education young people should have gained in school but didn’t.

Oklahoma, especially in the more rural areas, continue to pump out smart and capable young people.

I enjoy reading all the accomplishments of our young people when they go to college and-or enter the workforce.

Arthur Goldberg, a columnist and former director of two ministries, recently penned a column entitled “ We were warned by a Soviet defector 40 years ago about how the US will be taken down; will we finally listen?” After discussing his and other 60’s-era young people’s efforts to end segregation through nonviolent resistance for which they willingly accepted the punishment, later working to change the laws they opposed, he turned to the present time.

Agitators Today Want to Destroy

“By contrast, the agitators of the last decade want only to destroy property, hurt people, and seek to dismantle government itself. As an example, these agitators converted peaceful protests about George Floyd’s death (protected by the First Amendment) into acts of violence through vandalism, riots and looting. Instead of peacefully submitting to law enforcement for their law-breaking actions, these trespassers resisted police, demanded their defunding, and appeared determined to tear down the essential fabric of America’s institutions. Rather than nonviolence being their guiding star, they foment anarchy.”

“Regrettably, governmental supporters (mayors, governors, and local legislative bodies) in so-called progressive cities and states, as well as the majority of the mainstream media, either tacitly endorse or explicitly approve such destructive non-peaceful actions. They excuse or coddle these lawbreakers and embolden them. Numerous local governments order law enforcement agencies to stand idle and avoid engaging these forces of destruction. The net effect permits these cancel culture warriors to create a situation of domestic terror as they loot stores, obliterate historical statues, burn our flag, destroy buildings, and attack churches and synagogues.

“These officials submit to a rule by mob rather than uphold the rule of law because they either are unaware of the radical elements embedded within these protests or simply don’t care” he wrote.

Later, he got to the Soviet defector, former KGB agent Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov – who explained the plan of committed Marxists-Leninists to gradually subvert America’s political system.

Plan to Subvert America Revealed

The first stage, “demoralization” is a process of re-educating generations of students to change their way of thinking. He believed this development would successfully occur in the U.S. when the 1960s and ’70s student radicals came to power and assumed roles as educators and business leaders. According to Bezmenov, these individuals would throw out classical education and weaken belief in traditional Judeo-Christian moral values. They would indoctrinate future students (i.e. future leaders) with Marxist-Leninists values (such as destroying free speech and replacing it with politically correct speech codes.)

“The truth of this prophecy is evidenced by simply witnessing (1) what passes for education today in our high schools and colleges, where virulent anti-Americanism has become embedded both within the educational system and in students’ values; and (2) the infusions of cash by major business entities and foundations to leftist social-political movements such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa.

Referring to such people, and in turn the future generations of students they would lead astray, Bezmenov explains, “Exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess authentic information. The facts tell nothing to him.”

Continuing, he said, “They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern. You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change the basic perception and the logic of their behavior.”

Stage two, “destabilization” is a process of weakening the essential structural elements of a nation by targeting changes in the economy and international relations such as infusing diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of the fabric of society or by providing billions of dollars to foreign adversaries such as Iran and Afghanistan.

The third stage utilizes “crisis” to achieve the ends of the revolution, whether it be a pandemic or the killing of an unarmed black man. During this time, “a violent change of power, structure, and the economy” takes hold. It also accelerates the process of redistributing wealth.

And finally, Bezmenov referred to stage four as “normalization” or what we may call the new normal. By this time, America has basically been taken over and lives under a new ideology and reality.

“He warned us this is what will happen to America unless it guards against people who desire to bring on times of crisis. ‘If people will fail to grasp the impending danger of that development, nothing can help the United States. You may kiss goodbye to your freedom.’” He concluded this way: “Unfortunately, many of today’s radical leftists, indoctrinated by Marx-ist Leninist values, choose to ignore the religious commandments that guided our activism and what President Ronald Reagan referred to as the shared bonds of ‘faith, family, and patriotism.’ Instead, they focus on grievances and resentments. In doing so, they are eroding our national confidence and self-respect while proving the validity of Bezmenov’s thesis concerning the gradual subversion of America’s political system.

“Today we are in a fight for the heart and soul of our nation. The Trump administration and conservative governors grasp the impending danger posed by adherents of the radical left. They’ve taken to heart the importance of acting upon the words of Reagan in his farewell address: ‘If we lose our values, we lose America.’ The good news is that it is not too late … to restore a sense of national pride and return to embracing the core values that our Founders instilled in the fabric of America.”