It's really hard to make fixing the plumbing of our democracy sexy. You can't really fit the problem or solution into a slogan. The best they've come up with (which I admittedly think is good) is "not left, not right, forward". The problem is 'forward' means a lot of things to a lot of people. As a country we're still in the denial phase about how broken our system is and how it's causing most of our problems. But hey, gotta start somewhere.
I agree completely. I was a Yang Ganger because I feel he was out to address the real problems we had, and was one of the only ones looking to identify the real problems - namely technology. He seems more proactive than reactive, which is why he runs into the wall he does. I'd love to see this new party become formidable. I think it what we really need. Of course, there'll be lots of money betting against it...
Great. It’s a little head scratching they didn’t start here. I’m still undecided if Yang is sincere, time will tell.
Scathing critique of this mess from the inside. Summary: it doesn't actual have any policy stances on anything. Just a lot of "everyone else is partisan so join us". https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/08/04/andrew-yang-forward-party-00109231 ... While the party supports electoral reforms such as ranked choice voting, independent redistricting commissions and open primaries, it is agnostic when it comes to having policy stances, believing it is better to not take a stand on voting issues than plant a flag and alienate people. That’s right — no platform laying out party principles and positions, no policies, no plan. Only showmanship. ... If there’s a common thread between Forward, Theranos and WeWork, it is that they all aspired to radically transform institutions through innovation, but without having any roadmap for success. The Forward Party believes its virtue is that it isn’t beholden to party ideology and rejects a litmus test of those who want to join. The mere imagining of a better tomorrow, in its view, is sufficient to reform the longest-standing democracy on Earth. In effect, it is a party that seeks to attract support by standing for nothing other than disruption — call it the Seinfeld Party. ... A party that stands on a platform of nothing is reflective of an emerging culture that prizes showmanship over substance and the misguided belief that if you convince enough people to believe in something, it is true. ...
It's not about publishing anything. They literally stand for nothing except "not partisan". Which is great, until you ask people to actually vote - at which point, they are going to be ... partisan. If candidates are pro-life, great. Pro-choice, great! Anti-war? Sure. Pro-war? Why not. Higher taxes, lower taxes, whatever you like. Supporting the party means nothing at all, except for those few electoral reform things (which just happen to line up with Democrats).
This shouldn't be news to anyone. It's been a single issue movement from day 1. There was never going to be some broad policy agenda (would be counterproductive to the project anyway). My guess is this lady got forced into the enterprise whenever Forward started absorbing a lot of these smaller "make America not kill itself" movements. That's naturally going to cause some friction and alienate a few people along the way. I agree with her, however, that strategically it has been mismanaged. Making it partisan was a big, big mistake, and even to this day I'm not sure that they still are or aren't. It's a strange grey area for them now. Despite their success in growing to the third largest party so quickly, things started flagging whenever Yang began letting other people take over leadership. I can't blame him, dude has a family and is probably tired of political bullshit.
Andrew Yang is another example of thousands that people who turn money into more money for a living aren't the best people to heed advice from on how to organize society. No more venture capitalists, real estate tycoons etc should be involved with government. These people live in bubbles that provide an out of touch reality of the needs of normal people.
I invite all Yang/Forward detractors to watch this video. Knocks down pretty much every line of critique or criticism raised in this thread. Not running for President, focused primarily on uncontested/one-party races at the state and local level, party is considered 'open', side-steps non electoral-based issues on purpose.
