Zohran Mamdani is a _real_ socialist who wants to seize the means of production. So why does Jim Babka think he might be a great American mayor? You'll learn how Mamdani could unintentionally reshape the national conversation. This episode explores his schemes including rent freezes and government-run grocery stores. You’ll also find out why the GOP is about to make him their favorite Democrat. SHOW NOTES EP88: René Girard: The Founding of Religion and State - https://youtu.be/dL8Err6K778 Zohran Mamdani's Government-Run Grocery Stores Won't Lower Prices: https://reason.com/2025/06/25/zohran-mamdanis-government-run-grocery-stores-wont-lower-prices/ America Has Plenty of Experience With Government-Run Stores, and It Isn't Pretty: https://reason.com/2025/06/27/america-has-plenty-of-experience-with-government-run-stores-and-it-isnt-pretty/ A Cuban reacts to Costco: https://x.com/billybinion/status/1937957332438175927 CHAPTERS 0:00 Theme 0:24 The Greatest Mayor in America 2:37 Whitney Tilson's symbolism 5:35 A REAL socialist 8:46 The impact of a Rent Freeze 14:23 Reactionaries in egalitarian paradise 20:47 Horseshoes and mimetic rivalries 22:52 A Republican consultants' dream 26:22 NYC as a laboratory to test socialism 27:37 We're all born young and ignorant 30:28 We all knew socialism sucks 33:52 NYC can remind us how bad socialism is 36:15 2 predictions on Mamdani's grocery stores 39:21 Profit is not a dirty word 41:19 Erie Kansas experience 43:41 SNAP and WIC 45:02 The Venezuelan experience 47:02 The grocery store that ended the USSR 49:44 Appreciating constant market miracles CREDITS Bill Protzmann is your moderator. This episode is sponsored by Zero Aggression Project. https://zeroaggressionproject.org/ Thank you to Randy Garbin for our amazing episode thumbnails: http://randygarbin.com/ ChatGPT was used to help write the show description. We are grateful to Sergio at https://www.youtube.com/@KeysofMoonMusic for our intro theme. ► https://www.patreon.com/user?u=10500501 or you can purchase his music on BandCamp: ► https://keysofmoon.bandcamp.com/ ► If you have any questions please feel free to write to Sergio at: [email protected] Be grace-full to each other.