Brace yourself: This is the editors of the New York Post begging, urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani to live up to his inaugural vow to “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
Specifically, when it comes to the homeless he’s decided to let freeze to death.
Last weekend saw at least 10 New Yorkers die in the cold, and temps remain glacial now.
Yet the mayor’s sticking by his order to cops and other city workers to leave encampments alone last weekend and not force the homeless to come in out of the deadly cold.
The idea is that the city should respect the autonomy of these (highly dysfunctional) individuals — which sure sounds like an obsessive care for “rugged individualism” to us.
That he himself called that “frigidity” is all the more damning.
Why is the newly prominent Democratic Socialist leader embracing a cold, laissez-faire attitude out of a Charles Dickens novel?
The most his office will do to get people into the collectivist warmth of a homeless shelter is “redouble outreach efforts.”
“Outreach” is a magic word in blue-city social services circles, because the alternative — compulsory shelter — is (mysteriously) a big no-no.
Even when a homeless person is clearly mentally ill, the ethic among the provider class is to make contact, extend the offer of help . . . .and retreat.
Under Mayor Eric Adams, the city had a policy of “involuntary removal” of homeless people with severe mental illness, but Mamdani rejects that approach because it doesn’t yet lead to “permanent supportive housing.”
Well, involuntary elementary school doesn’t always lead to an Ivy League degree, either, but it’s a good first step.
Nor is it remotely humane or compassionate to leave people to freeze to death just so you can push for some transformative change that might benefit others.
Even the designation of a “Code Blue,” which means it’s cold enough to override normal shelter admission policies, isn’t enough to let the city force people to come inside, unless they’re found to be in a state approaching death — but if they’ve gone hiding after the “outreach” crew has stopped by, they probably won’t get found in time.
It’s bizarre: Progressives are completely down with meddling maximally in people’s lives most of the time — taxing us, regulating us, telling us how to tip on food delivery and where to dispose of our vegetable peels.
But they become fiercely libertarian when it comes to letting mentally ill people refuse to come out of the cold.
“The law, in its majestic equality,” snarked Nobel Prize winner Anatole France, “forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges.”
Mamdani’s corollary is that the law permits rich and poor to sleep outside in the cold.
Sorry: Virtually everyone sees the value in rejecting “the frigidity of rugged individualism” in extreme cases, and the virtue of imposing the “warmth of collectivism.”
Live up to your clear promise, Mr. Mayor, and do right by the city’s most vulnerable.
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