Well, I said I'd be critical of Yang if I saw a reason for it, and now that he's unveiling more of his third party ambitions, I really have to be critical. I mean, what's the point here? To me, the vote of a third party, was to leave the democrats, challenge their power, and field our own candidates with our own ideology. But Yang seems to be insistent he will NOT run spoiler candidates. He's going to go the DSA route of endorsing candidates running in primaries for the republicans and democrats.
I mean, the good news here is that I don't have to change my party affiliation. This is smart. But is this really leaving the democratic party beyond in name only? I've considered myself an independent who has to work with the dems for years. And look at where that has got us. Look at the TYT affiliated Justice Democrats, or the DSA, to get a good idea of where this route will lead. We will nominate people within the democrats, they will lose 90% of the time, and the other 10% will win, and quickly disappoint like AOC is as they become absorbed into the establishment. Look at "independent", "democratic socialist" Bernie Sanders, who was constantly lambasted as "not a real democrat" but trying to use the party infrastructure to run for president. How is that any different than what Yang is doing? I mean, all the "real democrats" are basically no true scotsmanning yang as it is, claiming due to his unique brand of politics, he isn't a real democrat, and now he's going to be running outside candidates...within the democratic party. And because democratic primaries often come down to who is more a "real democrat" and who has the establishment blessing, how is Yang going to accomplish anything?
Now, to be fair, a third party is a long shot regardless. But seriously, taking spoiler candidates off the table is the quickest route to being ignored. The true power of third party candidates comes from their ability to siphon off voters from the two major parties. This is political science. The two parties represent coalitions of voters. And just because the two parties are inevitable does not mean that the two parties will always remain the same. Parties go throgh periods of dealignment and realignment. Dealignment means that people leave the political parties as they tune out, become less interested, feel alienated, and aren't represented by them. Realignment happens when a bunch of previously dealigned voters all influx into one of the major parties, or part of the coalition breaks off from one party and joins another. This process happens once every 40 years or so, with the last one happening between 1968 and 1980 in my own timeline of it. 1968 representing the south dealigning from the democrats and 1980 representing reagan's victory solidifying the south as part of the new coalition that has lasted for the past 40 years or so. I'd argue 2016 is the beginning of a dealignment and realignment, as the schism between establishment and progressive democrats happens, and Trump alienates people from the republicans. Right now, the democrats are trying to win over disaffected moderate republicans in the south, turning once red areas more purple, while more blue areas up north are also turning more purple and swinging toward trump. And then you got me, someone who left the GOP in 2012, became more left wing ideologically, and then from 2016 on got disaffected by a moderate democratic party not representative of our interests.
That's where we are, right now. And if things keep going unabated, with progressives being absorbed back into the democratic party but unhapppy with their lot, and moderates flooding in from the GOP, and some disaffected working class people swinging toward trump, that's not good. I don't want centrist democratic party and trumpist republican party politics too become the norm for the next SEVERAL DECADES, arguably for the rest of my life.
The way to prevent this is for disaffected democrats to leave and form a third party. I previously supported Bernie Sanders within the party and the greens outside of it, but neither really represent my views super well. They're better than what we have, at least they're talking solutions, but I'm not really big on "socialism" and old school solutions to 21st century problems. I take a more UBI oriented approach to politics represented by Andrew Yang. And post 2020, I've found myself identifying more and more with the Yang gang, as the progressive movement does this thing of both being absorbed into the democrats and tearing itself apart, with some becoming reluctant biden bros and others becoming so extreme no one can reach them. Obviously, I want a middle ground, and when Yang looked to be starting a third party, I thought we would get it. A force outside of the two party system to try to push views not represented by the two parties. But, if you're not really going to be that independent, and you're simply gonna work within the two party system, what is this going to accomplish? I just don't get how this solves anything. At least if Yang went full on third party, including spoiler candidates, he would be able to advocate his brand and put real pressure on the democrats (or alternatively the GOP) to shape up in order to bring in these new voters. You gotta threaten their coalitions and hit them where they hurt if you want them to listen. You have to be willing to be demonized and be the bad guy. You have to be willing to say, yeah, I screwed you guys out of winning, so what are you gonna do about it? Because i aint budging. Yang doesn't seem to be doing that. That said, this reveal seems like a bit of a let down to me. We already have organizations with one foot in and one foot out. They aren't doing anything. Because while Yang left the democratic party, the people he runs for office are going to be democrats, and subject to those spheres of influence. ANd they will end up betraying their forward ideals for the sake of career advancement in the democrats. We already see this.
That said, who are we kidding? What is this going to accomplish? I'm not saying this is a grift, but this looks a lot like something that just isn't going to go anywhere. If you're too afraid to challenge power, you're not going to accomplish anything. We already run people within the democrats. They don't get anywhere. I just don't see the point.
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