I think we all need a little cheering up, don’t you? So allow me to interrupt the steady stream of violent authoritarianism and state-sponsored murder in your feed with some good news. New York City, which already provides free preschool for three- and four-year-olds, is a step closer to providing free universal childcare for two-year-olds. On Thursday, Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a plan for the free childcare program, which they said will start by focusing on “high-need areas” and then gradually expand to cover the city. The mayor said he expected about 2,000 children to be covered by the program this fall.

There are still a lot of questions about how the universal childcare program will be funded long-term and how exactly it will be rolled out. Nevertheless, even though it’s still in a very early stage, there’s a lot to celebrate here.

First, there’s the fact that, not even two weeks into his role as mayor, Mamdani seems to be doing all he can to fulfil his bold campaign promises and affordability agenda. Most importantly, he’s shown he can work with the state governor, who has made it quite clear she is not his biggest fan, to get things done.

“To those who think that the promises of a campaign cannot survive once confronted with the realities of government, today is your answer,” Mamdani said at the event on Thursday.

I hope that pro-natalists and representatives of the so-called “party of family values” are paying attention here. Sorry to state the bleeding obvious, but if you want people to have more kids, then this is how you do it. You don’t do it by making condoms more expensive (hello, China) or by removing access to safe and legal abortions (hello, USA) or by saying grandparents, not daycares, should be watching little kids (hello, JD Vance). Rather, you make it more affordable for people to have children. If you want to be a party of family values, you do that by actually helping young children thrive – not by

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