Mamdani And Ms. Rachel Push Bigger Government Role In Raising NYC Children

As someone who grew up with the calm, measured presence of Mister Rogers, I find Ms. Rachels hyperactive, loud, and fast-paced style not only grating but deeply unsettling. Her spellbinding, almost frenetic delivery strikes me as overstimulating and, to be blunt, nauseating.

Beyond the sensory overload, there is a more serious concern: Ms. Rachels eagerness to inject radical political messaging into content aimed at very young children, something Fred Rogers scrupulously avoided. According to RedState, this is not a minor quirk but a defining feature of her growing public role.

January 14, 2026

Despite these misgivings, there is no denying Ms. Rachelwhose real name is Rachel Griffin Accursohas become a dominant figure in the childrens education and entertainment space on YouTube. Her channel boasts more than 14 million subscribers and has racked up over one billion views, with additional massive followings on TikTok and other social media platforms.

Recently, Ms. Rachel moved beyond the screen and into the political arena by teaming up with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to push for universal childcare in New York and potentially nationwide. Shortly after being named to Mamdanis inaugural committee late last year, Griffin Accurso declared, Affordable, accessible, high-quality childcare deserves bipartisan support nationwide, and Im so glad our city will be prioritizing it with Zohran as mayor.

Mamdani, a left-wing politician who has made redistributionist policies central to his agenda, laid out his intentions clearly in his January 1 inauguration speech. He vowed to deliver universal childcare for the many by taxing the wealthiest few, a familiar refrain in progressive circles that treats private success as a public piggy bank.

Less than two weeks later, Mamdani and Ms. Rachel appeared together at a Lower Manhattan school, singing songs while unveiling a new initiative designed to achieve universal care and ultimately, serve all families across the city. In a moment that perfectly captured the fusion of childrens entertainment and progressive politics, Ms. Rachel told the crowd, Giving makes us so happy, and giving childcare makes everyone really happy in the city, before launching into If Youre Happy and You Know it.

A press release outlining the plan promised that the new program will deliver free childcare for two-year-olds in New York City, in addition to strengthening the existing 3K program to achieve universal care and ultimately, serve all families across the city. Unsurprisingly, Mamdani emphasized that this is merely the opening phase, reiterating that he is committed to universal childcare as a long-term goal.

What received far less cheerful singing and clapping was the price tag. This year alone, New York will spend $4.5 billion on childcare programs, and one estimate suggests that fully implementing universal childcare would cost the state about $15 billion.

Given New Yorks track record, that $15 billion figure is likely optimistic at best. The states existing childcare programs have already blown past their original budget projections, suggesting taxpayers should treat current estimates with a grain of salt.

All of this is unfolding while New York faces a staggering $34.3 billion budget deficit, making the push for another massive entitlement program fiscally reckless. Beyond the sheer cost, universal childcare carries ideological baggage, reflecting a worldview that leans heavily toward state control and away from family autonomy, with unmistakable socialist undertones.

Proponents of universal childcare insist it is sound policy because it allows more women to pursue careers, supposedly boosts economic output, and allegedly improves childrens social development. These talking points are repeated endlessly, yet they gloss over a growing body of evidence that the trade-offsespecially for young childrenare serious and often negative.

An analysis of Quebecs universal childcare program found a large, significant, negative shock to the preschool, noncognitive development and health of children exposed to the new program, with little measured impact on cognitive skills. Even more troubling, the same study reported that children in the program experienced increases in early childhood anxiety and aggression.

Another study, examining programs in Chile, Germany, Norway, Quebec, and the United States, concluded that more time spent in childcare was associated with lower social competence and poorer academic work habits along with more conflicted relationships with teachers and mothers. These findings do not prove that every government-run childcare program is inherently harmful, but they do reinforce a commonsense conviction long held by many parents: babies and toddlers thrive best when raised primarily by their own parents, not by state-funded strangers.

At a deeper level, the universal childcare push aligns with a broader ideological project that is openly skeptical of the traditional family. In The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels explicitly called for the abolition of the nuclear family, and socialist regimes throughout history have repeatedly taken aggressive steps to weaken or supplant the family unit.

The logic behind this is straightforward and chilling. Socialists understand that a strong, independent family is a rival source of authority and loyalty, so they seek to have the government replace the family as the central institution in a childs life.

When childrens entertainers like Ms. Rachel lend their influence to expansive state programs that shift child-rearing from parents to bureaucracies, it is not just a policy debate over budgets and benefits. It is a struggle over who ultimately shapes the hearts, minds, and values of the next generationand whether that responsibility belongs to loving parents or an ever-growing government.