Jon Reisman

The new year opened with a roar — Mamdani, Trump, Venezuela, Minnesota, Collins, Mills, Platner, Lewiston, and Fraud all bombarded my inbox before 2026 was 10 days old. Widespread gaslighting, misdirection, hypocrisy, and propagandizing immediately ensued, highlighting both our divisions and dilemmas. 

Mayor Mamdani’s inaugural pledge and the hypocrisy/political drama brought Mr. Emerson’s hobgoblin consistency quote to my (little) mind: “I want to replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” – Zohran Mamdani, New York City Mayoral Inauguration (2026).

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and

philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’ — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance (1841)

Mayor Mamdani clearly practices the self-confidence and hard words Mr. Emerson advocated.

Zohran believes his socialist convictions are true learned wisdom. Emerson touted continual self-learning/improvement through both faith and experience.

One aspect of our dilemma/divide is generational and experience-based. Americans have drawn very different conclusions about the likely consequences of socialism. Boomers (1946-64) and Gen X (1965-80) remember the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and the socialist record of misery and tyranny. Millennials (1981-96) and Gen Z (1997-2012) don’t. Our schools, colleges, and the teacher unions ― the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association ― are largely to blame.

Mamdani and Platner are Millennials, which is now the largest potential voting group. Mills, Collins, and Trump are Boomers. Generational divides are an important part of the culture/political war, but geography, history, and leadership (or lack thereof) are also part of the story.

Emerson’s Hobgoblins are things to be feared and dreaded, often shrouded and unclear. For many Boomers, including myself, socialism and the warmth of collectivism are Hobgoblins, but not shrouded in mystery. The misery and destruction of Venezuela, Cuba, Eastern Europe, Cambodia, Mao’s China, and Stalin’s Russia are still fresh in our minds and, for the most part, haven’t been censored/erased yet.

Our divide results in very different information feeds/narratives/understanding of events. That in turn amplifies the probability of miscommunication, dysfunction, and more division. It brings to mind the (hard) words of an Illinois Senate candidate 17 years after Mr. Emerson:

“A house divided against itself, cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.” – Abraham Lincoln (1858)

The events in Minnesota are both a cause and a consequence of increasing American division and dysfunction. Leadership is required to avoid disaster. President Trump can best offer it with greater message discipline, continuing to carry a big stick, and by refraining from his unfortunate predilection to accurately imitate a narcissistic horse’s ass. 

Those are my hard words on the subject, with one additional suggestion for all: listen harder.

Jon Reisman is an economist and policy analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38 years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Statler and Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own, and he welcomes comments as letters to the editor here or to him directly via email at jreisman@maine.edu.