New Yorkers awakened Wednesday to a grim reality: Zohran Mamdani, who just won the Democrat primary, could become mayor of our nations greatest city in November. Why is that grim? Because the upstart 33-year-old from Uganda is an avowed socialist who is promising free childcare, free bus transportation, rent freezes, city-run grocery stores and other unworkable policies of the sort that drove Venezuela, Argentina and other one-time great nations into financial ruin. He is also a proud backer of the Intifada, and unrepentant antisemite.But, college-educated young people, especially, think Mamdanis program is wonderful; just dont ask them who will pay for it.Even my staunchly anti-Trump Democrat friends are outraged. My Jewish friends even more so. They cannot imagine how their party has lurched so hard left. But they did nothing to stop it. Most do not engage in local politics; most have no idea who represents them on the city council, or in the state legislature, or even when the local elections take place. Ask them; youll be shocked.CITY-RUN GROCERY STORES, DEFUNDING POLICE, SAFE INJECTION SITES: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT NYC'S NEXT POTENTIAL MAYORRepublicans, meanwhile, are inert and defeatist. They are running Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and an all-round Good Guy as their candidate; they know he has as much chance of winning as I do. In 2021, when he went up against Eric Adams, who was not an especially strong candidate, he won less than 28% of the vote. Republican energy and leadership have disappeared in New York; the party does not even field candidates in many races. It is a disgrace. But the shocking win by Zohran and defeat of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a scandal-plagued candidate who ran a miserable campaign, has many authors. Jews failed to organize their community to rally around candidate Cuomo, whose early lead proved deceptive and evaporated just weeks before the primary. Jews were not paying attention to the young anti-Zionist Muslim who advocates for "globalizing the Intifada," does not recognize Israels right to exist and has threatened to arrest Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he sets foot in the Big Apple.DEM SOCIALIST'S NYC PRIMARY UPSET SIGNALS 'GENERATIONAL' SHIFT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY, STRATEGISTS SAYMostly, though, Mamdanis upset victory can be traced to the subversion of our education system, which has infused generation after generation of gullible young people indoctrinated with Leftist claptrap, teaching them that capitalism is evil and exploitative and that socialism is the better path.The liberal elites who lead and fund our academic institutions have, for decades, cheered on the progressive professors who convinced Americas youth that our country is systemically racist and that "social justice" demands the toppling of our economy.REPUBLICANS USE MAMDANI BOMBSHELL VICTORY OVER CUOMO AS AMMUNITION TO BLAST DEMOCRATS AS EXTREMISTSThey have allowed achievement and meritocracy to be maligned as watchwords for white supremacy rather than Americas core values that allow everyone to get ahead. Where were their voices as Martin Luther Kings "equality" dream was junked from curriculums (as in California) in favor of some fanciful notion of "equity" where everyone, regardless of talent or effort, ends up at the same place?As the leaders of our banks, real estate businesses and media companies virtue signaled by adopting unpopular and unproductive DEI programs, did anyone raise their hand to say: this is wrong? As they endorsed leftist candidates to assuage their white liberal guilt, did not anyone see the end game?CHICAGO TRIBUNE WARNS NEW YORK TO AVOID SOCIALIST MAYORAL CANDIDATE AFTER 'MISTAKE' BRANDON JOHNSONProud Ivy League alums sent checks to their alma maters year after year, hoping to vault their offspring into those hallowed halls, ignoring what their kids were learning. When The Crimson reported that 82% of Harvards faculty self-identified as liberal or "very liberal," and less than 2% conservative, were they concerned that their kids might hear only one side of the story?Did they know that Karl Marxs "Communist Manifesto" was one of the most frequently assigned texts in our colleges?Americans have ignored for decades the leftward drift of our schools and the decline in scholastic standards. Both are contributing to the creation of a generation truly ignorant of how the economy works, the history of failed socialist regimes and the founding, enduring principles of the United States.Here is what must happen now: New Yorkers of all sorts must coalesce around one candidate. Either Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams both of whom are likely to run as independents -- should be convinced to bow out of the race, as well as Curtis Sliwa. As Cuomo said after the primary: "There are about 5 million voters in New York City, there are about 8 million people in New York City, and about 1 million people vote in the Democratic primary. So, it's not, necessarily, representative of the city at large." Hes right. Mamdani could lose in November.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONThe right-leaning Chicago Tribune recently ran an editorial titled, "New Yorkers, take it from Chicago weve seen this movie before, and the ending isnt pretty." The paper wrote: "Most of Mamdanis ideas are shared (at least in principle) by Mayor Brandon Johnson, and many of them are popular in blue cities. But experience has taught us here thatfar-left candidates do not make for effective or popular municipal executives in todays stressful economy."Fox Business Larry Kudlow believes that winning the primary will be the high-water mark for Mamdani; he thinks that as voters learn more about him and his dangerous policies, they will reject him. It is notable that Google searches in New York for "socialism" soared after the vote. People, and especially young people, do not even seem to know what the term means.I hope Kudlow is right, but for that to happen, New Yorkers must become engaged. Historically, we have not been good at that. Perhaps the threat posed by Mamdani will change that.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM LIZ PEEK