Last night, the once unimaginable happened. New York City elected a socialist as mayor.

Zoran Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization dedicated to, quote,

transforming the power relations of global capitalism. Across the country, DSA membership numbers are at an all-time

high. Mamdani's unlikely victory victory and the momentum of progressive Democrats in general

is the latest sign that another profound shift in our politics could be underway.

But how did we get here?

I don't think you can answer that question without reading Thomas Sowell.

Seoul is one of the world's most influential economists and philosophers, and he's written

more than 45 books.

But a conflict of visions, first published in 1987, is his favorite.

In that book, he traces the underlying logic behind all modern political divides.

Why is it that knowing someone's position on one issue,

say gun control, makes it easy to predict their position on totally unrelated issues like abortion?

Some people would chalk it up to simple tribalism. But Seoul, who was a Marxist as a young man

before becoming one of the most important conservative thinkers in

America argues that it's something much deeper. A clash of instinctive visions about human nature

and the limits of social engineering. A conflict of visions is the book that I chose to discuss

with Shiloh Brooks on his new podcast, Old School. Our conversation, which was

recorded well before yesterday's election, illuminates why some of us buy into utopian projects

that seek to remake society, while others trust the quiet power of incentive structures,

like free markets. It was a great conversation, and I'm excited to share part of it with you

today. This is just a section. For the rest of the discussion, search for Old School with Shiloh

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