As a professed leftist and socialist since the late ’90s, the old fearmongering about “socialists trying to take over America” never really worked on me. Not because I didn’t want socialism to take root here—I absolutely did—but because I could look around and plainly see that it wasn’t happening anywhere near the scale conservatives claimed. I dreamed of socialism working its way into the American dream, not as some authoritarian nightmare, but as a recognition that there is enough for everyone.
When Trump began his second term, I talked with friends about the possibility that the pendulum might swing back hard to the left after the executive orders, institutional attacks, and assaults on long-held democratic traditions. But even then, as someone who has wished for socialism for decades, I still didn’t see much evidence of a real national movement on the ground.
Then Zohran Mamdani won as mayor of New York City, alongside other Democratic Socialist victories in the region. That was exciting. His success matters, and if he governs well, it could benefit far more than New York. Still, part of me saw it as regional—a coastal phenomenon, powerful but contained.
But waking up this morning and seeing the results out of Denver, Colorado, and the House races, something feels different. For the first time, I don’t just see isolated victories. I see the early shape of a movement. Not guaranteed, not inevitable, not without backlash—but real.
And for someone who has spent most of his adult life believing that capitalism is fundamentally incongruent with determinism, compassion, and the simple truth that no one chooses the conditions into which they are born, this moment feels profound.
It feels like the odds of large-scale change have finally become visible.
Not certain. Not safe. Not easy.
But visible.