Democrats sweep elections in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and California

The deep blue state of New York, elected as the mayor of its greatest city, New York City, the financial capital of the world, its Democratic candidate. No surprise there. The anomaly was that the choice was 34-year-old, Ugandan-born, first-generation immigrant, Zohran Mamdani, who was espousing the progressive movement started by President Franklin. D. Roosevelt in 1945.

- BY KUMAR DE SILVA

(P. BYRNES)

FDR's New Deal dealt with the Great Depression of the early 1930s, and continued until the 1980s, which had by then included social security, unemployment and disability insurance and provision of a just social safety net, with equitable taxation programs.

The Republican western film actor/president, Ronald Reagan, arguably the first true conservative president since WWII, went on to dismantle a thriving middle class, by embracing the theory of "supply side economics" aka "trickle-down economics".

He changed the demographic composition of the Republican Party of today: lower taxes, fewer corporate regulations against pollution of the environment and a strong military.

It's a pity that Reagan decided to quit his Hollywood job and run for the presidency. Hollywood's gain was the nation's loss.

After Reagan's presidential terms, words like "liberal", "progressive" and the more recent "woke" were considered to be insulting epithets. These words represent the economic policies of 29 of the 30 world's developed nations which follow the progressive ideology of socialist democracy.

Such a post-Reagan democratic socialist movement had existed in the USA, led by Senator Bernie Sanders, espoused by a growing minority in the House, led by Alaxandra Ocasio-Cortez. The election of a self-confessed socialist in Mamdani -the first words of his acceptance speech as mayor contained the name of Eugene Debs, the American Communist Party leader, who contested the presidency from prison in 1920 - is a positive indication that he is proud of his liberal values.

The Sanders movement is gaining in popularity, and will be the moving force behind the current Democratic Party, whose performance during the past eight years has been nothing short of abysmal, with its leadership behaving like moderate members of the Republican Party.