Douglas V. Gibbs ——Bio and Archives--January 2, 2026

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The Devil always appears as an angel of light.

On the steps of New York City Hall, Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivered an inauguration speech wrapped in soft velvet of idealism, but the ideological steel beneath it was unmistakable. His words were polished, poetic, and perfectly engineered to sound compassionate; the same way every collectivist movement in history has introduced itself.

To the untrained ear, it sounds noble. But anyone who has studied the rhetoric of Marx, Lenin, Castro, or Chávez recognizes the formula:

This is the linguistic sleight‑of‑hand that has always preceded the erosion of liberty.

He continued, “Housing is a human right, and we will democratize it.”

“Democratize” is a word that sounds empowering but from the mouths of socialists historically means centralization, regulation, and the slow suffocation of private property. It’s the same vocabulary that turned once‑vibrant cities and countries in history into bureaucratic wastelands.

Then came the crescendo: “We will build a city where dignity is guaranteed.”

Guaranteed? By whom? Government bureaucracy?

Guaranteed at what cost? Taxing the rich? As the song, “I’d Love to Change the World” by Ten Years........

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