Damani: Let's Talk Politics!: Left Populism and Democratic Socialism

Much national attention has been given to the victory of Zohran Mamdani in the mayoral election in New York City. But in Seattle and King County Washington there were equally astonishing local election outcomes in the races for mayor of Seattle and the King County executive.

In the County executive race Girmay Zahilay won. He is 38 years old of Ethiopian descent. He was born in a refugee camp in Sudan to parents fleeing civil war in their home country. Ivy League educated, he first made waves by defeating Larry Gossett for a seat on the King County Council in 2019. Gossett, a former Black Panther and president of the Washington State Rainbow Coalition, had served since 1993. In a hotly contested county executive election Zahilay bested Claudia Balducci, a multi-term county councilwoman from the center-left with demonstrated ability to get things done.

Simultaneously, Katie Wilson, aged 43 defeated the Afro-Japanese incumbent Bruce Harrell by less than a one percent margin. Wilson dropped out of Oxford University within a semester of graduating with honors in physics and philosophy. She describes herself as a socialist but is not a member of any socialist organization and the Democratic Socialist of America chapter in Seattle did not endorse her.

Seattle/King County is home to Microsoft and Amazon. As a center of the tech boom the region has witnessed extreme polarization of wealth and has a large, unhoused population. Even more than is true elsewhere affordability is a hotbed issue. After the murder of George Floyd Seattle saw one of the more explosive “defund the police” movements. It featured the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) where activist took over a city park causing the city to abandon the police precinct across the street. The fallout from the city’s handling of the movement would see the police chief resign and a mayor who had been the darling of the city’s elite decide not to run for re-election.[1]

In these posts I focus on the role of race in distinguishing between left and right populism. But I also highlight the way that populism pushes the political mainstreams on each side toward new objectives. Today I want to tease out the way that left populist economic thinking is pushing mainstream liberalism toward either an explicit advancement of social liberalism or possibly democratic socialism (See Figure 1).

The Political Careers of Zahilay and Mamdani

Girmay Zahilay

Katie Wilson

Like Zohran Mamdani, Zahilay and Wilson are left-wing populist. As someone who had resided in public housing as a youth Zahilay campaigned on the expansion of public housing and opposition to traditional juvenile detention methods.[2] In a city that fell behind in mass transit as it grew with the tech boom, Wilson co-founded The Seattle Transit Riders Union in 2011.

Both candidates represent a younger generation that is concerned about social justice and affordability. As a county councilman Zahilay secured funding for a community center in the underserved neighborhood that he grew up in. And he was behind the building of tiny homes to get people off the streets.

Under Wilson’s leadership the Transit Riders Union has lobbied for the entire range of issues affecting transit riders: ‘a mission that encompasses everything from bus fares to affordable housing to preventing sweeps of homeless encampments.’[3] In 2020, Wilson successfully advocated for the creation of Seattle's JumpStart tax, which taxes private employers to fund affordable housing.During her campaign Wilson criticized Mayor Harrell for proposing to take funds from JumpStart funds to balance the city budget.

Both of these young public servants are clearly progressive. I could not find any statements on Zahilay’s political views, but he identifies as a Democrat. As mentioned above Wilson identifies as a socialist ideologically but she also stood for office as a Democrat.

Democratic Socialism and Social Liberalism

The establishment gets itself into a tither over the intrusion of socialism into our national political discourse as a legitimate worldview. Because this ‘s’ word has been off limits in this land of quintessential capitalism, we don’t teach the broad body of socialist ideas in our schools. Moreover, socialism isn’t talked about in day-to-day conversations by anyone who isn’t far to the left of center in national politics.

But that is starting to change! The problem of affordability in contemporary society is a crisis of capitalism. Socialism broadly is belief in any set of policies that tax or regulate the private sector of the economy in the name of collective well-being. Most Americans equate socialism with communism of the kind witnessed in Eastern bloc countries and China during the Cold War. That state socialism eliminated the private sector of the economy and market competition. But in Scandinavia (and to a lesser extent much of Western Europe) we see democratic socialism which permits capitalism to function, but imposes higher taxes to pay for health care, education and other social services. Read that as capitalism as a principle of wealth creation and socialism as a principle for the redistribution of wealth and opportunity.

Capitalism grows out of another great philosophical tradition ... liberalism. Liberalism is the belief in individual liberty, equality before the law and the protection of property rights. Economic liberalism emphasizes property rights and a fee market economy. Across the 19th century the polarization of wealth created by industrial capitalism saw the emergence of social liberalism as a doctrine foregrounding equality, not just before the law, but of opportunities to pursue ‘life, liberty and happiness.’

Equality in the realm of opportunity required government intervention into the economy to ameliorate the inequality produced by capitalism. That also meant higher taxes to pay for health care, education and other social services ... Sounds a lot like socialism!

Therein lies the conundrum for the Democratic Party and the way it handles candidates like Zahilay, Wilson and Mamdani. Zahilay identifies as a Democrat and his political positions place him squarely in the left-populist wing of the party. He’s not saying, perhaps because he’s savvy enough not to, but I would categorize him as a social liberal. As I’ve shown that’s not much different than democratic socialism.

Bernie Sanders’ unflinching presentation of himself as a democratic socialist since his 2016 presidential run, coming as it did in the wake of the Great Recession, has done much to popularize socialism in recent times among the young. Also, a lot of us have been socialist-oriented or open to socialistic policies since the 1960s. The FBI Counterintelligence Program repressed much of the extreme left, but many of the rest of us put our heads down, immersed ourselves in civil society and kept our views to ourselves.

Sanders’ popularity and the emergence of young charismatic socialists like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani have served to make the word more palatable in mainstream political discourse for young and old alike. The Democratic establishment is thrilled that affordability was embraced by center-left candidates like Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia as well as Mamdani in New York City. But while the two governors elect stop with groceries and gasolene, Mamdani’s platform includes housing, healthcare and transportation.

Zahilay the social liberal and Wilson, the democratic socialist share those policy agendas as well. They speak to the concerns and real human needs of working and middle-class people in an economy that makes the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness out of reach for more and more people.

The late African revolutionary Amilcar Cabral puts it best.

Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, ... They are fighting to win

material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the

future of their children.[4]

So, Democrats can try to pigeonhole the Wilsons and the Zahilays of the world into abstract ideas, or they can embrace them because they are fighting for to win better material benefits for their families and communities in the future.

Figure 1. Progressivism and Ideology

Liberalism Populism (Sanders)

Economic Policy

Orientation

social welfarist capitalism

social welfarist capitalism, democratic socialism