In a new blog post, Cato scholar Ryan Bourne argues that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s embrace of “collectivism” is “a loaded ideological term with a long, well-documented pedigree and an even longer rap sheet.” Bourne writes that collectivism means “a social order in which the claims of the group—often defined and enforced by the state—override individual choice, property rights, and voluntary exchange.” He notes that countries protecting economic freedom consistently outperform collectivist systems on income, health, and longevity.

Bourne contends that Mamdani’s “supposed warmth” is actually “a rhetorical sugar coating for using coercive power to do things free individuals would choose otherwise not to do.”

If you’d like to speak with Bourne, please reach out to Emily at esalamon@​cato.​org.