Welcome to Breakpoint A Daily Look at an Ever-Changing Culture Through the Lens of Unchanging Truth for the Coulson Center on Johnstone Street. If free or subsidized groceries sound like a great idea, it's not. According to Eric Patterson, president of the Victims of Communism Museum and Memorial Foundation, a new project by New York Mayor Zoan Mandani reveals just what is ultimately wrong with democratic socialism. Here's Dr. Patterson.
New York's mayor. Self-proclaimed democratic socialist Zoran Mamdani. promised low-cost groceries, subsidized rent. Free public transportation. an army of new social workers and other freebies as a candidate.
This summer. the public is carefully eyeing his plan to impose big box state-funded grocery stores across New York. How should we evaluate all of this? The place to begin is with our fundamental principles of stewardship and accountability. Just last week a group of small businesses many of whom are immigrants to the United States.
sued Mermam Donnie over his grocery store plan. Why? because New York is home to over 13,000 neighborhood grocery stores. Known as bodegas. These independent mom and pop grocers operate across the entirety of New York.
They fear that subsidized, state-run grocery stores will drive them out of business. For example, Mom Dani's plan calls for a state-run mega-grocery store in a neighborhood where there are five family businesses within a two-block radius. How can they compete when Mom Donnie plans to subsidize groceries by 30%? To be clear, taxpayers will fund the building of Mamdani's superstores. Taxpayers will also subsidize cheap groceries at Momdani superstores.
Ensuring that people have access to food is an important common good. Civil government does have a role to play to ensure a baseline of public safety and the rule of law.
So that basic necessities are available. And it is true that we've seen inflation. And so we should be concerned about costs. But one has to wonder if all these freebies are about common good stewardship. Or are they a campaign ploy to buy votes for the next election?
We ought to begin by thinking about elements of stewardship. Meaning, cultivating common good approaches that are efficient, effective, accountable. and sustainable. We ought to also think about whether this or that government policy is in line with the basic American principle of limited government and the idea of sphere sovereignty. When it comes to effectiveness, there is no evidence that state-run grocery stores will cause a real rise in employment or better the lives of average citizens.
Government intervention usually results in bureaucracies and bureaucratic procedures. Think about your most recent experience at the DMV. Most of us can recall just how empty the shelves of state-run grocery stores. were in the superpower Soviet Union. Why go back to that?
Critics from both sides of the political aisle have recognized that the attack on New York's bodegas. is a larger assault on the principle of private property. not just grocers. but also homeowners, landlords, taxi drivers, small businesses and others who may feel the pressure from government takeover of their livelihoods. The Christian concept of sphere sovereignty argues that different sectors all contribute to the public good.
but have their own areas of expertise. and governance. Thus, there are distinctions between the spheres of private business, education, agriculture, medicine, the arts, science. and different levels of civil government. In contrast, New York City's government wants to exercise more and more control over groceries, transportation, communications, education, business.
and other spheres. America has a long tradition of limited government because our predecessors have long been concerned with the accumulation of power in the hands of fallen men and women. This summer's power play by the so-called democratic socialists calls for a true revolution. a massive increase in government influence and even appropriation of the financial and economic sectors. At the national level, The DSA's new party platform also calls for a revolution in American government institutions by destroying many of the checks and balances of our system.
The Democratic Socialists of America call for the abolishment of the Senate. Abolishing Electoral College and dramatic changes to the presidency. and judiciary. They even pledge to rewrite the Constitution. Overthrowing separation of powers, federalism, and checks and balances is an attempt to erode government accountability.
Back to the Bodegas. Throughout the Bible, one element of good stewardship is studying conditions and counting the cost. We have learned that Miramam Dani has not followed this principle. Last month his budget team admitted that there has not been a complete study of the impact of state-run grocery stores. on New York's small businesses.
New York is an expensive place. but it is the ingenuity and competition. between countless small, medium, and large businesses that innovates to provide for most New Yorkers' needs. The bodegas are the epitome of stewardship because they must count their costs every day. They are accountable to their customers.
into market conditions. They provide invaluable service and demonstrate American pluck and determination. Only time will tell if they can withstand. an attack. by big government.
That was Eric Patterson, President of the Victims of Communism Museum and Memorial Foundation. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, please leave us a review wherever you download your podcast and for more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org. Scripture offers us the capital T true truth account of the world as it actually is. If this is the story of the world, there is a storyteller.
In a world that says live your truth, Christians have the responsibility to live out the truth. Truth Rising the Study explores the true story of the world through creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. You'll see this cultural moment through the bigger story of reality written by God. Start this free study today at colsoncenter.org/slash study. That's colsoncenter.org/slash study.
