I see a country completely divided and at war with its self. I notice republicans who have an intense hatred for "liberals". I also notice a vast amount of democrats who have an intense hatred for Trump, for anyone who supported Trump and for conservatives. I notice democrats, liberals and progressives wallowing and reveling in this hatred, taking extreme pride in anger and hatred for the "enemy". Justified, self-righteous hatred.
People love to fight an enemy. Fight, fight fight!! If the "enemy" was some small group of "evil" people then its possible this intense hatred MIGHT be somehow useful. But when people are so passionately hateful of roughly half of America, I ask how this can possibly be constructive. I also ask if a president like Sanders or Warren can heal this problem of polarization and hatred? I really don't see it. These candidates are popular specifically because they have "fought" for so long against the conservative enemy that people are the left is so in love with hatred. They have gained popularity partly because they talk about economic inequality but also because they have fanned the flames of hatred for one half of the country against the other. I don't see that as a winning scenario.
When I see Andrew Yang talk, I notice none of this rally to fight against anyone. I hear about policies, solutions that address issues that matter to me, economic inequality, poverty, technology and our human future. I hear him talk of a vision for the human race that is a "Star-Trek economy" where people are not required to work at a job to justify their right to exist, but instead people are guaranteed a baseline to meet their needs as a right of citizenship. Energies can be spent on bettering one's self and doing what one is passionate about. This is the vision of the future to fight for. It is worth all of us spending our entire lives fighting for, regardless if any of us ever see the fruits of that fight. That is the vision. It is a futuristic vision, not a nostalgic vision, looking back to some idealistic version of the 1950s when every American had a good factory job and could afford to have 2.5 kids with a good union job.
Yang's main slogans are "Humanity First" and "It isn't left or right, it's Forward". Notice it is "Humanity" first, not some tired rhetoric about the middle class. This is what the Universal Basic Income achieves. Universal Basic Income was something that Bernie was in support of until the very moment that Yang started running and all of a sudden Bernie abandoned the idea, claiming in a fatherly way "we are not going to do that". Instead, Bernie proposed the Guaranteed Federal Jobs program directly to shoot down UBI. What will that program do to help an artist like myself? I have all but given up on my dream of art and work at a call center because 'the market' has decided my art to be of no value in actual dollars. And Bernie's solution? A few extra dollars an hour at my call center job (soon to be automated). If I become unemployed, I can do artwork? No, "We need road workers, child-care workers, our bridges are crumbling, a job supplied by the government for every American who wants to work". I am insulted by the idea.
As for healing the country, and doing so while also defeating Trump:
"It isn't left or right, it's Forward", Yang can do both of these things in a way, I don't see coming from Bernie or Warren. At the last debate the candidates were asked "Who is a friend you have that people might be surprised about?" Yang began talking about "Fred" the trucker. Fred Ramsey is one of my friend's on Facebook and is an ex-Trump supporter who has voted republican all of his life. He has now switched his party to democrat to vote for Yang. Fred has made many videos about how because of Yang, he has learned "it isn't immigrants taking our jobs, it is automation". Fred talks about how he began to realize that every human deserves a basic standard of living via the UBI. This is a conservative who is now spouting human rights and equality for all. All the while, so many of my so called 'progressive' friends and family members have come out against UBI and begun reverting to 'work ethic' mantras. I am on 5 or 6 different social media YangGang groups where I see thousands of comments from Yang supporters and the story is the same over and over, Trump supporters and conservatives who have realized that anti-immigrant fear is not needed, that the UBI can be a right for all Americans, regardless of work status, that no one needs to live in poverty and struggle- right along with the tens of thousands of democrats, progressives and socialist-leaning Yang supporters. There is no shame, no hatred in the Yang Gang. We all want Humanity to move forward with automation and UBI. There are no human enemies or the fanning the flames of hatred toward half the country.
10/28/2019
"The only candidate that represents the poor and working classes is Bernie Sanders."
This is a false statement. What policies does Bernie have to help the homeless and unemployed (the actual poor)? Why did Bernie flip flop and abandon true humanitarian values via the Universal Basic income? Policies that stress the need for people to work in order to justify their right to exist are capitalist under a thin mask. No one can claim to care about the poor and homeless and also be against the Universal Basic income. I am sick of "work ethic" rhetoric. "Bernie has been saying the same thing for 40 years." Untrue, but also insufficient. The world has changed in 40 years, the world has changed in ten years. We need modern solutions that the old have shown they are not willing to provide. To be ruled over by well meaning people in their 70's who cannot keep up with the times, who cannot boldly face the changing reality of poverty and the modern world as a whole is unacceptable.
As an actual "poor person", unlike the vast majority of Bernie supporters (middle class and above), I will not let this go. Universal Basic Income is the only policy that recognizes the rights of citizens simply for being alive, SEPARATE from a "job". The time has come for this idea. I have no respect for a politician who does not support Universal Basic Income. How can anyone sit in their luxury home, ride their airplanes, live their comfortable lives and be against this idea? To ideologically tie a basic standard of living to a job is not radical or egalitarian.
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