To the Editor:
On Nov. 4, Zohran Mamdani, a self-identified Democratic Socialist, was elected mayor of New York City. Even before the election, Republicans were demonizing him by calling him a communist and terrorist, and pointing out Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea as negative examples of socialist countries. Their hysteria only increased after Mamdani won by a large margin.
I would like to point out a different viewpoint of democratic socialism. Each year, the World Happiness Report is published; it calculates the overall happiness of the citizens of all countries in the world and ranks them by the results. The results include factors such as GDP per capita, social support the citizens receive, healthy life expectancy and satisfaction with their lifestyles.
In 2024, the United States ranked 22nd, certainly not a very favorable ranking. Finland was #1, Denmark #2, Iceland #3, Sweden #4 and Norway #7. Also ranking ahead of the United States were Austria, Belgium and the Czech Republic.
What do these countries have in common? They all have democratic socialist societies! They provide their citizens with free health care, free higher education and greater income equality among their citizens. The workers may pay higher taxes, but they receive significant benefits that make their lives better and more fruitful.
As a result, the happiness ratings in these countries reflect the satisfaction of their citizens. Likewise, the poor ranking of the United States reflects the dissatisfaction of many of its citizens who are unable to achieve a satisfactory standard of living.
Instead of impulsively demonizing democratic socialism, perhaps we should give Mamdani a chance to see if it could improve the lives of New Yorkers.
James Jones
Wildwood Crest
