By Paul King, former Republican candidate for U.S. Congress, NY-05 in 2024

Who is the greatest enemy of a Socialist/Marxist? No, it’s not rich people. It’s YOU.

Queens is the home of the American Dream. It is the first stop in the land of opportunity for immigrants and first-generation Americans. For homeowners who may have spent decades or generations working toward a family home, our residential neighborhoods are where those dreams came true. A vote for Mamdani (or frankly, Cuomo) is a vote to destroy your dreams.

Socialists despise people who believe they can build a better life through faith and hard work. That covers almost every working-class and middle-class New Yorker. Almost certainly, you are the philosophical enemy of Zohran Mamdani. Why? Because your success proves them wrong.

Socialists can only hang onto power if most people are trapped in government dependency. Anyone who has hope, anyone who believes in her or his ability to improve their family’s circumstances, anyone who believes in the American Dream is a threat to Socialist power. Mayor Mamdani’s policies would stop you from creating your best life.

Curtis Sliwa on the other hand is the best friend of working-class and middle-class New Yorkers. He knows what it is like to grow up under modest means in New York City. He knows what it is like to get a job and work hard from a young age. And, he celebrates people whose hard work was rewarded in our system of capitalism and freedom. That is why Curtis’ economic policies are focused on making sure that working people have the opportunity to thrive.

Mr. Mamdani promotes numerous terrible policies. For me, none is more anti-American and anti-Queens than government-run supermarkets. Being a child of privilege, Mamdani clearly has no understanding of the grocery business. Like many working-class kids, my first real job was in a supermarket – Waldbaums. My father spent most of his career in grocery stores and bodegas. These are low-margin businesses. If your store is not part of a major chain, chances are you are a first-generation American who works very long hours in hopes of giving your children the chance for a better life.

These stores are part of the fabric of our neighborhoods and are quintessentially American. They will disappear under Mayor Mamdani.

Food prices are not high because of greedy grocery store owners. They are high because of President Biden’s failed policies. (Note to Zohran: Higher prices make life more difficult for grocery store owners!) Mamdani’s government-run stores won’t pay property taxes. The unfair competition will drive private stores out of business, hurting hard-working Americans. And we know how well government-run food stores have worked in Russia and across the globe. No thanks!

It is a lose-lose proposition. But once the government owns the means of food distribution, we will all be trapped. Classic socialist authoritarianism.

Instead of undermining New York’s entrepreneurs, the Sliwa administration will uplift local businesses. Curtis will be the best friend to mom-and-pop shops that struggle under rising costs and crime. His economic approach –free market capitalism– will revive New York from the ground up.

American’s dream of owning their own business. They also want to own their own home. Queens’ wonderful residential neighborhoods are at risk from City of Yes (CoY). CoY is Eric Adams’ brainchild. Backed by real estate developers, Andrew Cuomo supports CoY. For Mamdani, CoY does not go far enough! Only Curtis Sliwa will reverse the damage already being done via overdevelopment and battery farms in residential neighborhoods.

The third enabler of the American Dream is education. We can write an entire chapter on how Mamdani wants to preserve the status quo – including indoctrinating our children with his “beyond the binary” theories and ending charter schools. Curtis is the only candidate with the guts to take on the teachers’ union monopoly and our corrupt, bloated bureaucracy.  

So, in short, what would you get from Mayor Mamdani? Bodegas and grocery stores closing. The same wasteful, ineffective and ideological public school system. More government dependency. Less public safety. The destruction of residential neighborhoods. What will you get from Mayor Sliwa? A renewed American Dream. Small businesses that thrive. Safe streets so your children can live a healthy life.

The choice could not be more clear. The power is in your hands. This election will determine if the American Dream is destroyed by “progressives” or renewed by a real New Yorker. Get everyone you know to vote for Curtis Sliwa for Mayor.