{"id":840,"date":"2026-07-05T07:10:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T07:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840"},"modified":"2026-07-05T07:10:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T07:10:34","slug":"a-tale-of-two-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Two Countries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

So here we are: July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the\u00a0Declaration of Independence. For the last several weeks, a crescendo of celebratory events has been building: fireworks without end, day-long flyovers of military aircraft, speeches, parties, and conferences galore. Nor have the celebrations been confined to America. All across the world, spectacular light shows, fireworks, and other red, white, and blue extravaganzas have rung out their grateful and congratulatory chorus. And quite right, too. For the Declaration marked the opening foray of what would become the greatest country the world had ever seen.<\/p>\n

Read more History Reburied<\/a><\/p>\n

At least, that is how a large portion of the world\u2019s population sees it.<\/p>\n

Others were more astringent in their reaction. On Friday, July 3, Zohran Mamdani, New York City\u2019s smiling Uganda-born mayor, sat behind George Washington\u2019s desk in the mayor\u2019s office at City Hall and delivered\u00a0a dark admonition. Flanked by 10 rather grim-looking newly naturalized immigrants, some of whom clutched a tiny American flag, he delivered a\u00a01619 Project-style congratulation to America on the occasion of its first quarter-millennium.<\/p>\n

For centuries, Mamdani intoned, ships have made their way into New York Harbor. And then what? \u201cThey saw land lush and teeming with life. They saw men waiting at the docks to take them into bondage. They saw tenements rife with squalor. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

Who dragged the needle across that spinning record? And so, it continued. America had great promise, Mamdani admitted. The Declaration enunciated noble ideals. But here on the 250th anniversary of that document, I, Zohran Mamdani, am here to tell you about America\u2019s systemic failures. Strophe: New arrivals \u201csaw merchants peddling their wares on the docks, streets being laid out on a grid, buildings rising into the clouds.\u201d Antistrophe: \u201cThey could not yet see the nativism they would face\u2014the jobs they would be refused, the landlords who would not rent to them, and the abject labor and living conditions they would withstand.\u201d Happy birthday, what?<\/p>\n

And what about the vaunted \u201cAmerican Exceptionalism?\u201d Here, Mamdani went to school with\u00a0. The irony is, Mamdani said, \u201cthat the story of America has so often been written by those who were told by others with power and influence and wealth that they were anything but exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n

For generation after generation, we have been told that when the world has sent its people to our shores, it has not sent its best. [Cue the Donald Trump caricature.] It sent Puritans and Sikhs and Quakers and Muslims and Jewish people who were banished for praying the wrong way, worshipping the wrong gods, angering the wrong people. It sent peasants and serfs from slums and shtetls who were treated as less because they hardly owned clothes, let alone land. It sent immigrants for whom power was something someone else had. We are told that America is exceptional because we are richer, stronger, more powerful than everyone else.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s us versus them, Comrade, and class warfare must go on forever. For the powerful, quoth Mamdani, America \u201cis an arena of supremacy, where only a select few are allowed freedom, where not all are created equal. America, if you ask them, becomes less the more people it welcomes. America, they will tell you, belongs only to those with the right accent or the right shade of skin.\u201d And what shade would that be, Kemo Sabe?<\/p>\n

New York, according to Mamdani, is \u201ca city of contradictions within a nation of contradictions.\u201d I suppose that means we are talking about a city and a country populated by human beings. But that slick\u2014ultimately specious\u2014formulation was the perfect segue to a tired and tawdry series of oppositions. \u201cWe see the wealthiest country in the history of the world\u2014one where children go to sleep hungry while the world\u2019s first trillionaire hungers for more.\u201d Anyone particular in mind with that invocation of trillionaires, Zohran? \u201cWe see monopolies that dominate every industry and oligarchs who buy elections.\u201d Like George Soros? \u201cWe see masked agents terrorizing our streets [i.e., enforcing the law], eating food cooked by our undocumented [read: \u201cillegal\u201d] neighbors before spiriting them away in unmarked vans. [How would you have them marked?] We see a nation whose immense wealth has been built by those with calloused, dirt-streaked hands\u2014those who toil on factory floors and chisel into stone\u2014and we see a nation that has allowed so much of that wealth to be held instead in the soft hands of a precious few.\u201d \u201cSoft hands,\u201d eh?<\/p>\n

Since Mamdani pointedly alluded to Elon Musk, it seems only fair to note that Musk seized on the operative word in this last graph, \u201cbuild.\u201d \u201cMamdani has built nothing,\u201d Musk noted in\u00a0a comment on the mayor\u2019s speech. He is \u201ca taker, never a maker.\u201d Stephen Miller, Trump\u2019s deputy chief of staff, sounded a kindred note that same day in a speech before National Guard soldiers. \u201cAll of civilization,\u201d\u00a0Miller said, \u201ccan be fundamentally divided into two groups of people: builders and destroyers. The people who do the work to build, sustain, and nurture civilization . . . and those who only destroy. Who litter, who rob, who graffiti, who deface, who degrade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Dear America, Happy 250th. No Hard Feelings!<\/a><\/p>\n

Except among true believers, Mamdani\u2019s speech instantly provoked\u00a0condign ridicule and mockery. One of the keenest comments on Mamdani\u2019s speech was made by the commentator who goes under the sobriquet \u201cCynical Publius.\u201d \u201cA key thing to understand about Marxists,\u201d\u00a0he wrote on X, \u201cis that they use the language of the oppressed so that they can be the oppressor.\u201d Bingo. Keep that in mind when Mamdani\u2019s \u201cwarmth of collectivism\u201d results in the expropriation of your property, stifling regulation, higher taxes, less air conditioning, and greater levels of street violence.<\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed \u201cDemocratic Socialist,\u201d provided one vision of America. Donald Trump, speaking that same day at Mt. Rushmore, provided another, very different vision. It was one of Trump\u2019s briefest but also one of his most powerful speeches. He began by noting what a magnificent anniversary this was: imagine 250 years of extraordinary prosperity, martial vigor, and unparalleled generosity to others. The main burden of Trump\u2019s remarks, however, was to sound an alarm about those who go in for euphemistic talk about the surprising return of \u201csocialism\u201d in blue redoubts across the country. Trump, following George Orwell\u2019s advice to call things by their real names, shed the euphemism and called the danger what it is: \u201ccommunism.\u201d There is,\u00a0Trump said, \u201ca resurgence of the communist menace in our land\u2014including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump made three key points.<\/p>\n

First, while communists continuously rail against the supposed depredations of America, they completely gloss over the crimes of communist societies. \u201cEven while the Radicals and Extremists attack our incredible history at every turn, they are SILENT on the miserable history of Communism itself. Their system has led to more death and destruction than any system ever tried\u2014it killed 100 million people in the last century.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second, communist mendacity is directed not only or primarily toward America\u2019s past. It is ultimately directed toward our future. Distorting the past is a potent weapon in the war to control the future.<\/p>\n

As for those who would peddle Marxist lies about our heritage\u2014who tell our children that we live on stolen land, or that our heroes were oppressors\u2014they are doing something much worse than slandering our past. They are attacking our future. They are trying to tear down the American Character, to destroy the people who declared Independence, crossed the Delaware, settled the West, and conquered the skies. But we will never let that happen.<\/p>\n

Third, the ideology of communism (a.k.a. \u201cMarxism,\u201d \u201csocialism,\u201d etc.) cannot cohabit with a republican regime based on limited government and the rule of law because the essence of communism is totalitarian. \u201cSuch doctrines can be given no quarter in a Democracy, because the first thing they do when they get into power is turn around, and destroy it\u2014just as Communists have done in other countries all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is indeed curious that just as America begins to recover its political specific gravity, shedding the smothering carapace of top-down regulatory excess and the insanity of woke ideology, pustules of socialist or communist hysteria pop up in susceptible municipalities. I suspect that, like some virulent fevers, it will run its course and then die out. But Trump is right to warn about its danger because, ignored, it might well turn into the sort of all-consuming illness that the twentieth century saw ravage many other societies across the globe. Zohran Mamdani still trots out his ensorcelling smile when the cameras are running. But be warned. Behind that seductive mask are all the hideous evils that Donald Trump adduced in his brief speech.<\/p>\n

Read more A Semiquincentennial Psalm<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So here we are: July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For the last several weeks, a crescendo of celebratory\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america"],"yoast_head":"\nA Tale of Two Countries - Urban Economy news<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Tale of Two Countries - Urban Economy news\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So here we are: July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For the last several weeks, a crescendo of celebratory\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Urban Economy news\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-05T07:10:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be7753cb687f443815cc81e8407f68ad\"},\"headline\":\"A Tale of Two Countries\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-05T07:10:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840\"},\"wordCount\":1496,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7773395dd2f8d12401fe64615af1b083.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"America\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840\",\"name\":\"A Tale of Two Countries - Urban Economy news\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7773395dd2f8d12401fe64615af1b083.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-05T07:10:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be7753cb687f443815cc81e8407f68ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7773395dd2f8d12401fe64615af1b083.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7773395dd2f8d12401fe64615af1b083.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=840#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Tale of Two Countries\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Urban Economy news\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be7753cb687f443815cc81e8407f68ad\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Tale of Two Countries - Urban Economy news","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Tale of Two Countries - Urban Economy news","og_description":"So here we are: July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For the last several weeks, a crescendo of celebratory\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840","og_site_name":"Urban Economy news","article_published_time":"2026-07-05T07:10:34+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/be7753cb687f443815cc81e8407f68ad"},"headline":"A Tale of Two Countries","datePublished":"2026-07-05T07:10:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840"},"wordCount":1496,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7773395dd2f8d12401fe64615af1b083.jpg","articleSection":["America"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840","url":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840","name":"A Tale of Two Countries - Urban Economy news","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7773395dd2f8d12401fe64615af1b083.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-05T07:10:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/be7753cb687f443815cc81e8407f68ad"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7773395dd2f8d12401fe64615af1b083.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7773395dd2f8d12401fe64615af1b083.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=840#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Tale of Two Countries"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/","name":"Urban Economy news","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/be7753cb687f443815cc81e8407f68ad","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com"],"url":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}