So, yang is officially out of the democratic party. Good. I would be following but as Yang points out, you're kind of disenfranchising yourself in 83% of the country that doesn't have open primaries if you do. I still might do it, because screw the dems.
The fact is, the democratic party is a mess, and it's quite clear its internal politics make winning a primary on issues very hard. There are too many special interests and rich suburbanites there who don't want to rock the boat and don't want real change. There are too many people obsessed with identity politics to the point is blasts out discussion on other issues. And while progressives mean well and are policy oriented, they pretty much have a mindset these days that anyone who isn't bernie is a sell out, and that even bernie is a sell out. These guys are particularly hostile toward yang, someone who has a different approach to issues that make him more independent.
The twitter and reddit (and i would include facebook but that's been down all day) reaction has ultimately been very hostile. Which, at this point, i just welcome their hatred.
Some of them are like "andrew who" and "dont let the door hit you on the way out" and "well hes not a REAL democrat anyway", which is par for the course among some of the most smarmy libs who say the quiet part out loud. They don't care, they dont like the guy, leave. Cool. We're not welcome anyway.
Some of them on the other hand are freaking out about vote splitting and why won't he work in the party. Uh, because working within the party is a dead end. Idk why people are so obsessed with OMG LEAVING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY MEANS YOU DISENFRANCHISE YOURSELF when jokes on you, we're disenfranchised anyway and the party doesn't care about us. Also, if we take votes from the democrats, those are votes you didn't earn, and votes you quite frankly neglected.
Some are enraged at the idea of Yang even daring support a third party. Their attitude is OMG WHEN WILL THIS GUY JUST GO AWAY, WE DONT LIKE YOU, YOU LOST TWICE, TAKE A HINT. Uh...why should we stop caring about issues we care about because we lost elections? I admit yang's entrepreneurial mindset of not taking no for an answer comes off as delusional sometimes, but in this political environment, I'll support it. We shouldn't take no for an answer, and I really resent these people who just expect us to go quietly into the night because Biden won. I don't care if Biden won. Screw Joe Biden. I never wanted him, I never supported him. And I believe we should keep pushing our ideas until they are reality.
Some other people scream that he's a grifter for this. Some do this because he's trying to make money off of his book. I mean, bro, you realize people need money to live right? Until we have a UBI (and maybe even after a UBI), trying to make a profit off of a book isn't evil, and he's trying to promote ideas, I'd rather he do this than take some pro establishment job in the biden administration doing nothing of use.
Some scream he's a grifter because he's not a real progressive. Some attacks are more honest, but annoying, like screaming about his support for Israel (can I just emphasize how little I care about Israel either way?). But others are more dishonest, screaming he had a right libertarian UBI and how he wanted to gut the safety net for ideological reasons. I mean, bro, he wanted to replace it with something better, maybe he didn't do it the best way, I covered this on this blog already, but the dude had good intentions.
I'm just kind of laughing at all of this while feeling annoyance. I not some dude who cultishly defends yang, i've criticized him before on this blog, but the attacks are just...lol. People get so salty over this guy. And having reached the end of my rope with the democrats, and who supports his party, I'm just laughing at this. Here's the thing democrats. You want to win us back, then earn our votes. until then stop crying about us splitting yours. We don't like your politics, we feel disenfranchised within your party, so we're leaving and starting our own. And as far as the progressives go...while I'd be happy to work with them on mutual issues, if they're gonna be so purity testy they unfairly attack him, they can get screwed too. I'm tired of putting up with them screaming over minutae and assuming the worst in the dude. Yang isn't perfect. No one is perfect, but he's doing more to challenge power and fix the system right now than even Bernie. I WISH bernie would pull such a move. But, he didn't have the balls for it. And look where it's getting him.
The fact is, I want change. I'm sick and tired of democrats who stifle progress, and the GOP, well, screw the GOP. And Yang is pushing an ideology not much different than my own, and his trajectory post 2020 mirrors my own. So flaws and all, I support him. Won't mean I'll fall on my sword for the guy and not be honest about him, but I support him for now.
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