by Stephen Soukup
New York is poised to make its own Faustian bargain—selling its soul for “free” perks and socialist promises that will cost the city far more than it can ever afford to pay.
One of the best-known legends in the Western tradition is the story of Faust, a brilliant scholar who becomes disillusioned with the limits of man’s knowledge and experiences and, as a result, sells his soul to the devil in exchange for extraordinary power, insight, and earthly pleasures. The German-speaking world is most familiar with the story as retold in an epic drama by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, considered one of the greatest works in all of German literature, while English speakers are likely most familiar with the version—“Dr. Faustus”—produced nearly two centuries earlier by Christopher Marlowe. Gen-Xers (like me) are, of course, most familiar with the version told in 1986 by screenwriter John Fusco, starring the Karate Kid himself as an aspiring blues guitarist and the great Steve Vai as the devil’s guitarist.
The moral of the story—in German folklore and in Marlowe’s telling—is that arrogance and craving for temporal pleasures and rewards are damning vices. They push man to make stupid choices, to underestimate his worth (and the worth of all humanity), and to risk full-blown tragedy for comparatively small gains. The contemporary terms “deal with the devil” and “Faustian bargain” are universally understood to represent foolish and ultimately destructive decisions made by those lacking foresight and wisdom.
Naturally, I mention all of this today for a reason—a couple, actually. First, residents of New York City go to the polls this coming Tuesday and, from all indications, are expected to make their own Faustian bargain. They are expected to elect the avowed Socialist and not-so-avowed-but-still-obvious Islamist Zohran Mamdani as their next mayor. They are expected to hand leadership of the financial center of the universe over to a Marxist, to turn the keys of the city in which the most horrific terrorist attack ever occurred to someone who campaigned with an unindicted co-conspirator on the first World Trade Center bombing, and to stake their collective future on the words and deeds of a spoiled, dishonest nepo-baby who has never had a real job in his life.
They are willing to do all of this in return for a few baubles: free bus rides, rent-controlled apartments, city-owned grocery stores, and an ever-higher minimum wage—and, of course, the social status that goes along with such virtue-signal-voting. Even if these policies were deliverable and not likely to unleash financial havoc, they would still be almost entirely irrelevant in the grand plan to “make NYC affordable.” None of them will do anything to help the city’s most vulnerable, those whom Mamdani claims to want to help. At the risk of mixing my soul-selling literary metaphors, one can’t help but be reminded of Thomas More’s line (delivered to Richard Rich), “Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world… but for Wales?”
The second reason I bring up Faust today is because the deal with the devil that New Yorkers are about to make is not merely foolish and short-sighted but is also, in a very real way, out of character for the American people. Goethe’s version of the story of Faust is different from the traditional folklore version as well as Marlowe’s interpretation. It is more complicated and nuanced. More to the point, it helps explain the differences between the animating zeitgeist of the far left that has captured the Democratic Party and will be electing Mamdani, and the more foundational American spirit.
The key difference between Goethe’s Faust and the traditional character is that the former is skeptical of the promises made by Mephistopheles. The folklore version of Faust is a vain and sinful man. Likewise, Marlowe’s Faustus is arrogant and selfish. He sells his soul for a fixed term, enjoys the pleasures and power he is granted, and, in the end, is hauled off to hell. Goethe’s character, by contrast, views the deal with the devil as a test, one he does not believe that he can fail. After challenging the devil to show him gifts and treasures that are truly extraordinary, and after Mephistopheles promises to do so, Goethe’s Faust proclaims:
When, to the Moment then, I say:
‘Ah, stay a while! You are so lovely!’
Then you can grasp me: then you may,
Then, to my ruin, I’ll go gladly!
Then they can ring the passing bell,
Then from your service you are free,
The clocks may halt, the hands be still,
And time be past and done, for me!
In other words, Goethe’s Faust is restless and constantly striving. While he is foolish enough to presume that he will never have to make good on his promise to Mephistopheles, he is also eager enough to improve himself and to expand his knowledge and abilities that he believes firmly that temporal perfection is impossible to achieve, that the devil’s promises are hollow and cannot produce true satisfaction for him. He knows that, whatever the devil’s powers, man can always strive for better and continue to work toward personal and moral improvement.
Socialism, communism, Marxism, and leftism—whatever you call it—are fantastical, millenarian ideologies. It promises that which cannot be achieved and replaces religion, faith, and constant striving with shallow earthly comforts. In the end, of course, it delivers nothing of the sort. Indeed, in the end, it is far more likely to deliver hell on earth than anything remotely approximating paradise.
When that happens, of course, the left simply shifts blame, claims that others are responsible for its sins, and does nothing to express regret or remorse. It wallows in the hell it has created and begs for more.
The American spirit—which, as I have noted before, largely eschews true leftism—is nothing like that. It is much more akin to the spirit of Goethe’s Faust, constantly seeking to improve itself, even as it acknowledges that perfection is impossible in this world.
Fittingly, in Goethe’s version of the story, Faust is saved by his restlessness and spirit, as well as the constant pleading of his betrayed love interest, Gretchen. He does, eventually, utter the words that should trigger his payment of the contract with Mephistopheles, but because he does so unselfishly (seeing the vision of the better life that his efforts have produced for others), he is redeemed.
New Yorkers are likely to make a terrible deal this Tuesday. Whether they will, at some point, have the wisdom to realize this and to work to fix what they’ve broken remains to be seen. Given the influence of the left, however, I am dubious.
Stephen R. Soukup is the Director of The Political Forum Institute and the author of The Dictatorship of Woke Capital (Encounter, 2021, 2023)
Source: https://amgreatness.com/2025/11/01/new-yorks-deal-with-the-devil/
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