Soon to be the mayor of New York City and self-described Democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani is set to be inaugurated in the old City Hall subway station, describing it as a "physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working people’s lives.”
His ceremony was supposed to be a crowning achievement of what government is capable of achieving for working people. There is just one problem, and the Washington Post editorial board were the ones to point it out.
That subway station "was a triumph of capitalism," and what capitalism is capable of doing for working people, "not government."
"The socialist has decided to take the oath of office during a private ceremony in the old City Hall subway station, which has been abandoned since 1945," the editorial board wrote. Mamdani, however, "forgot to mention that this beautiful monument was a triumph of capitalism, not government."
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company was a private corporation from its founding in 1902 until its purchase by the city in 1940. The original IRT line, of which City Hall station was the crown jewel, ran 9.1 miles and included 27 other stations. It was built in four years and seven months at the equivalent cost of $1.2 billion in today’s money.
Compare this with the government’s performance on the Second Avenue subway project. That cost $2.5 billion per mile, and construction of the 1.8-mile first phase took a decade, after decades of fits and starts.
The station is not a testament to what Mamdani could be capable of in power; it's a testament to what creative individuals, and the efficacy of capitalism, can do when they are not encumbered by someone like Mamdani. It's a slap in the face to Mamdani and his prospective administration. That he will only ever be able to take credit for what hardworking individuals, through freedom of enterprise and creativity, are capable of.
The editorial board continued, writing that "Little of the subway system would exist if not for private enterprises that the city later took over."
Unlike Mamdani's government, "These entrepreneurs were more concerned with building a railroad that people would want to ride than placating public-sector union bosses and environmental activists." Only after capitalism and private enterprise had developed all the infrastructure did the government swoop in and destroy it, leading to the abysmal public transit system New York City knows today.
"The incoming mayor is right that the Big Apple’s subway is a good 'monument,' but it’s to what happens when government thinks it knows better than private firms," the editorial board concluded. "Those interested in the city’s flourishing should want more things to look like the private skyscrapers above ground than the public transit below it."
Believe it or not, the Washington Post has unintentionally highlighted one enduring truth about government: it always seeks to take credit for everything people have achieved without them. Often, they claim victories in which they had little or no role, and then commandeer those same structures and run them straight into the ground.
Does anyone really expect Mamdani to solve New York City’s affordability crisis? Or fix homelessness? Or tackle the crime wave? They shouldn’t.
Voters too often assume that government can’t make things worse if the grandiose solutions of politicians like Mamdani fail. That dangerous underestimation is exactly why American cities keep deteriorating, and why many have given up on even trying to fix them.