Why Utopian Dreams Always End in Dystopian Nightmares

“We’ve never completely mastered Sameness.  I suppose the genetic scientists are still hard at work trying to work the kinks out…Our people made that choice, the choice to go to Sameness.  Before my time, before the previous time, back and back and back.  We relinquished color when we relinquished sunshine and did away with differences.”– The Giver

Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani attained the unthinkable when he was elected mayor of the city of New York in November 2025.  Promising a more equitable society, Mamdani has pledged everything from free bus rides and childcare to rent control, low-cost city-run grocery stores, and an increase in corporate taxes to fund his growing wish list.  Unfortunately, New Yorkers have already seen nearly a million of their highest-income earners leave the state since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, taking billions of dollars in income with them.

But Mamdani’s democratic socialism also comes with a communalist bent.  In May 2020, Mamdani tweeted the Marxist adage, “from each according to their abilities, to each according to their need”, that rather than merit, distribution should be based on necessity.  He also expressed his desire to seize control of the means of production at a Democratic Socialist of America conference the following year. 

How New York will adjust when these platitudes become policy will soon be evident for all to see.

In Lois Lowry’s 1993 book, “The Giver”, Lowry tells the story of a utopian community purged of pain and suffering.  With just one generation of memories, citizens live in the moment, with no memories of the past and no expectation for the future.  Centered around the life of a 12-year-old, Jonas goes through the motions of a superficial life in the village where everything is the same for everyone.  Suitable for children aged 10 and over, this book, the first of four books in a dystopian quartet, The Giver, won the prestigious 1994 Newbery Award, a feat recognizing the year’s greatest contribution to children’s literature.  

A knockoff of Ayn Rand’s 1938 book “Anthem”, both tell similar stories of a collectivist community based on equality, with assigned numbers to identify citizens, and the banning of books, to forbid any knowledge of the past.  Each is a clarion warning to those who wish for equality of outcomes.

To provide the necessary contentment of a comfortable, tranquil life with everything preplanned for them, all bad was removed: violence, inequality, poverty, and injustice.  There would be no discomfort or envy when everyone is the same: i.e., same clothes, same house, same food.  With community elders matching spouses, selecting children, and assigning jobs, there would be no repercussions from bad choices. 

Birth mothers delivered children into society, and nurturers emotionally and physically cared for babies until they were placed in homes.  Two children – one male, one female – are allowed in every family unit.  Children, of course, were named by elders.  Equality was the goal for every child, ensuring that gifts were identical to stymie any negative feelings.  A pill was given to stop desires, to mute sensations, with a lack of memories aiding in their achievement. 

Yet, one individual, named the Receiver, was assigned to hold the memories from the past, the memories of the whole world.  This individual was given the capacity to see beyond, to essentially hold the pain for all the others.  But eventually, the Receiver recognized that there was a troubling tradeoff for not feeling and experiencing pain.  For those who have never felt agony, there would be no capacity to feel real joy.  Taking away free will and the memory of the past takes away the meaning of life itself.  When given the choice between the two, Jonas opts for the latter, willing to take pain for the risk of something better.  He seeks to escape the mundane for a chance at life. 

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”.  Dystopian tales warn us about being careful of what we wish for.  With sameness comes the lack of choices, feelings, and human experience.  We tell stories over and over with the intention of preserving the memory, to remind us of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.

Did New Yorkers just make a terrible Faustian bargain by electing a Marxist ideologue?   Utopian dreams always end in dystopian nightmares; human nature cannot be manipulated.