New York City’s almost certain election of a self proclaimed Democratic socialist and proven antisemite as mayor last week could mean that another half-million or more sane New Yorkers could flee the world’s “economic center” in the coming year.

An estimated 546,000 have left since the April 2020 census, probably to escape the stifling taxes and regulation imposed by the predecessor of Zohran Mamdani, who defeated his chief opponent, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the Democrat mayoral nomination. He is expected to sweep the field to win the election next November.

The field includes current Democrat Mayor Eric Edwards, who is running as an Independent after figuring out the Democrat policies did not lend themselves to responsible government.

Some suspect that NYC Democrats voted for the 33-year-old Uganda-born Mamdani as a means to destroy the Cuomo dynasty. But who would bet on it with rankedchoice voting the law there?

The Daily Signal’s Jarret Stepman pointed out in a column last week that Mamdani’s election is almost assured when lower ranked voter’s selections are allocated to the top candidates.

Stepman reported that Mamdani supports these positions: defunding the police and replacing them with social workers, abolishing prisons, abolishing private health insurance, banning guns, decriminalizing pretty much every drug, and creating government-run grocery stores.

Mamdani came from a well-to-do background. His mother is a “Bollywood” producer. His father is a Columbia University professor who specializes in “postcolonialism.”

The flailing Democrat party is looking for somebody (anybody?) who can pull them out of their current tailspin.

Columnist Michael Barone calls Mamdani, “a threeterm state assemblyman, a likable candidate with clever, memorable ads and a vigorous personal campaigner who inspired thousands of volunteers. He undeniably has charm, something hard to define but easy to spot: Think former Presidents John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.”

Fortunately, there is no rule that “how New York City goes, so goes the nation.” Let them suffer their ignorance.

They may well serve as a bad example of what the rest of us ought not to do.

Ben Shapiro commented: “Republicans shouldn’t root for Democrats to fly off the cliffs of reality like ‘Thelma and Louise.’ Because they might just take America with them.

“Mamdani’s victory shows that Democrats seem to be careening toward those cliffs at full speed. We should all hope and pray that rational Americans reject the (Socialist Sen. Bernie) Sanders revolution and all of its acolytes, before it’s too late.”

Loading the City Up With Debt

In his Thursday “On The Money” email newsletter, Charlie Gasparino, a financial journalist at Fox Business, explained the problems with Mamdani’s plans to load the city up with debt: “Here’s where things can get dicey if you’re a muni holder. It’s rare but municipalities have been known to file for bankruptcy and screw bondholders. Puerto Rico did that not too long ago, same with Detroit and Orange County, Calif., back in the 1990s. NYC came close in the 1970s during the infamous financial crisis, but it avoided a full-on default.

“The city’s budget under Eric Adams is pretty solid today for all Gotham’s problems. But remember defaults do occur when fiscal leaders spend more than they have.

“Mamdani, if you take him at his word, wants to spend money like crazy and tax rich people and businesses so much that they will have little choice but to keep moving to Florida. It should be a recipe for default, and at least lower muni-bond prices following downgrades in ratings by bond-monitors like Fitch, S & P and Moody’s.

“What’s telling is that even though Mamdani claims to speak for less wealthy New Yorkers, they resoundingly rejected him. Exit polls show Mamdani won by double digits among primary voters earning $100,000 or more, as well as among those earning $50,000 to $100,000. But Mamdani lost heavily to primary rival Andrew Cuomo— by double digits—among voters earning under $50,000.”

What gets me is that the big spenders (of other people’s money, of course) fail to explain how they’re going to pay for the “free stuff “other than “tax the rich.”

The rich will flee the unfair burden. They don’t have to live there.

••• Personally, I am more concerned about the Kingfisher County’s wheat crop than NYC politics.

••• On that subject, we appear headed toward another successful harvest, our farmers having overcome numerous obstacles along the way, as they generally do.