Andrew Yang wants to be your president and give you a free $1000 every month.
Why every American hasn’t leapt up and spread his name around by now is partly because Yang has been running his campaign like a model minority. AKA, speak softly, hope to get noticed. I like Yang, and a lot of it started out solely because he is Asian, but after really hearing him out, I mostly like him now because he’s correct. I just hope he can be more aggressive about taking the initiative to stand out in a crowded Democrat field with bigger names and assertive opponents.
Yang’s shtick is the Universal Basic Income (i.e. the free $1000 a month). Like a chef, he uses the core ingredients of the U.B.I. to create recipes for problem solving other issues. Underprivileged neighborhoods? Free $1000 to everyone. Women needing the financial freedom to leave abusive relationships? Free $1000. College tuition? $1000. Environment. Medical bills. Improving life expectancy. Etc. You get the idea. I know what you’re thinking: The $1000 isn’t enough and some issues like police brutality, gun control and LGBTQ rights must be changed by law and not cash. Moreover, Yang sounds a whole lot like a libertarian hiding in liberal clothing.
To this, Yang has given an answer which is logical yet not quite sexy: every president is likely to only achieve one big goal in his/her presidency. It’s best to set a big goal that puts the foundations into fixing multiple problems over one above all. The more ambitious goals, whether Democrat or Republican depend on the domination of a party in Congress (or an incredibly good deal maker of a president). A simple solution like U.B.I. is appealing to both sides; Republicans like the non-government interference that $1000 a month will achieve (in a manner, it’s forced trickled-down economics), the Dems like that it alleviates a lot of problems from oppressed groups (in a manner, it’s government intervention of giving people aid). This isn’t to say that Yang will ignore to propose things like single-payer healthcare, gun control or national legalization of marijuana (he’d pardon all prisoners of minor marijuana possession crimes on 4/20/21), but the U.B.I. is his version of the Obama stimulus package.
Yang is the only candidate that’s addressing the big threat of the next decade: automation.
Yes, Skynet is coming and most of it’s already here in the form of self-serving checkout lanes and kiosks. People are losing jobs to robots, not immigrants. Amazon has destroyed most malls in America (the average retail worker is 39-year-old women). We’re five to ten years from self-driving trucks ending the need for human truck drivers, who, in turn, will affect the small towns, gas stations and diners that depend on their business. America’s going to waste four to eight years fretting about building walls and removing immigrants when Jeff Bezos is our true problem. Andrew Yang gets this, even if he’s explaining it in a calm manner that doesn’t reflect the true urgency of confronting the automation problem.
Is Andrew Yang worth your vote?
Very much so. Why? Because we’ve undervalued brains, logic and plain ol’ boring stability. We’ve gotten an impression that businessmen without governing experience make bad presidents, when the current president is actually just a con man who masqueraded as an entrepreneur. Yang may not be as theatrical as his Democrat opponents, but while the others talk about how awful racism, climate change, etc. is, Yang has a solid proposal with quantitative solutions. He’s the only one who brought up automation and financial instability as the root problem, when every other candidate addressed the symptoms. He’s the soft-spoken Asian guy at the side of the class, good at math, brains to solve complex issues. We’ve already given the class clown a shot at the White House, why not the genius?
If this is your first time hearing about Andrew Yang or you’d like to learn more about him, watch any of these interviews and see the man explain about himself in his own words. Well worth your time.
Breakfast Club Interview
Joe Rogan Interview
David Pakman Interview
Hot 97 Summer Jam Interview
AM Joy Interview
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