Let's face something I've known something for a while. While his original political movement is based and probably the most progressive political ideology I've ever seen, Yang has always been just the wrong person to run it.
Yang...I mean, he's always been a flawed candidate. In 2020, he kept changing his position on things. Just look at medicare for all. He supported it in his war on normal people. And then on the campaign trail he started saying "look, I support the spirit of medicare for all, but we cant get there right away, we need a public option", and then he ran on some lame healthcare plan that read like a Trump healthcare plan. It had nothing but band aid fixes, it literally made Obamacare look good by comparison. Because it was a non plan.
That's actually a reason I ended up not supporting Yang in 2020. I decided that while I love yang, and I loved UBI, I didn't love them enough to give up literally everything else I supported for that. And pre covid, it made sense. The green new deal looked like the immediate future for me, not UBI, despite my misgivings. And given I felt climate was the most pressing concern, okay, I'd let Bernie do his thing.
I did come to regret that. COVID really reignited my passion for UBI, as we entered a crisis where we somehow needed to provide for tons of people, without giving people jobs and work. And UBI suddenly looked very good. And as I really went out there to find myself post 2020, I really decided that yeah, we need UBI. I investigated whether we could do single payer too and while I maintain we can, I admit it's a tough sell and am willing to support a public option.
And as I read Yang's Forward book, I kind of realized Yang didn't really back off of his ideas. If anything he tactically retreated but he still believed the same thing.
Still, it was a bad image. To have these top campaign priorities just casually thrown aside and abandoned was a bad look, and it really tarnished his reputation. People would call him a "grifter" and crap like that. It would make me mad. The far left makes up so many BS narratives about Yang being a bad guy that I just find it ridiculous. They dont even try to understand, they just wanna ideologically circlejerk, so make up myths about UBI destroying welfare (as if that's even a bad thing to some extent) and crap.
And even today, as my faith in yang plummets, I STILL find those people grating as hell. Watching emma vigeland and ana kasperian circlejerking about a job guarantee while crapping on yang makes my blood boil. "Well UBI was a trojan horse to destroy welfare and no one wants a UBI and we need a job guarantee because people want to feel a sense of purpose." Yeah, screw your sense of purpose and your jobs. Just gonna say that here. Freaking hacks.
BUT...I have to wonder if the left has a point. The fact is, for Yang to just abandon UBI and human centered capitalism like this...it bothers me. I dont doubt that somewhere deep in his heart, he still believes these things, and it is a bit of a "tactical retreat" like with medicare for all, but it feels like he just sold his soul to the devil. Yes, he is going to gain support for this. A lot of moderate anti trump republicans will flood into forward like crazy.
BUT...in the process, I feel abandoned. I advocate for his ORIGINAL VISION. UBI, medicare for all, human centered capitalism. We align almost perfectly here, as we've discussed quite a bit. And I even like the third party shift. Im disaffected as hell with the democrats for obvious reasons I won't restate for the sake of sounding like a broken record. Expanding his platform into RCV and deescalating the culture wars are good things. And if anything I've grown an appreciation for that platform as time went on, even getting over some of my original misgivings by reading the room elsewhere.
BUT, just to throw away that original platform...yeah no. Yang needs to stop doing that crap. Either you support something, or you don't. I know Yang is trying to be super inclusive and big tent like here...but there's a balance between being too purity testy, and not standing for anything at all. If youre too strict on the purity tests, you become like the bernie bros. You scream at people for not agreeing with you on some arcane issue only they care about. BUT...if you go too far in the other direction, you become like the mainstream dems. A movement so obsessed with political pragmatism and big tent ideas that no one knows what it stands for and it barely stands for anything at all.
The key is to pick a handful of winning issue and stick with them. Use THEM as purity tests, but compromise on everything else. it's fine to take 1-5 issues or so, and make them lines in the sand. it's fine to take another 5-10 and say "these I heavily prefer, but I can compromise on them somewhat". And then it's fine to say, yeah, I dont really care about this, so what if this guy doesnt agree with me.
That's what I do.
UBI and some sort of healthcare reform are my big two, with UBI being the biggest one.
Stuff like free college/student debt forgiveness, climate change legislation, and stuff like RCV are nice to haves. Even abortion is a "nice to have" for me, given I literally view it as a freedom issue close to my heart. I mean, I CAN bend on them, but I'm still going to hope that whomever I support supports at least SOME of them.
But then you have other random issues. Like random culture war nonsense. Like, I dont care if you're a TERF or whatever (since people on the left scream about "TERFs" constantly for some reason). I dont care what your stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict is (something Yang got dragged over hot coals for). I don't care whether you believe in systemic racism and white supremacy being a problem. I know there are a lot of lefties who will scream to the high heavens demanding absolute purity on these kinds of issues, and I just...don't care.
I have a handful of issues I care about a lot. A bunch more I care about somewhat, and then a bunch I'm willing to let go.
Maybe Yang is doing that too....but he just decided his original UBI and human centered capitalist vision is part of what he can let go.
Either way, I cannot follow.
I really hope Yang explains his behavior. i think his supporters deserve an explanation and deserve clarity on exactly where he stands on UBI and the like.
But, if he's abandoning those aspects of his platform, then he's abandoning me.
Maybe the left was right and this was a huge grift after all. It's a shame, I legit thought yang was the real deal and he really stood for these things. I mean, being willing to walk away from the democrats over your convictions takes a lot of courage in this environment. And I respected him for having major balls to do it.
But...if he's abandoning that, again, he's abandoning me.
As far as I'm concerned, no UBI, no vote, no support. RCV and the like is nice, but it's not my top top issue. I really just see that stuff as a means to an end to make my UBI aspirations a reality. But if I had to choose, I'd rather have UBI.
Some forwardists asked me if I'd rather get something done or just circlejerk about UBI. If getting something done means selling out everything I believe in then i'd rather circlejerk. I know forward isnt a movement that will likely succeed. But, third parties almost never do in conventional political terms. Third parties primarily exist as INFLUENCERS. They draw attention to the problems with the current political alignment and are basically public pressure campaigns for change. A successful third party is one that forces a realignment or brings enough attention to its pet issues that it no longer needs to exist, because one of the two parties took up their cause and implemented them.
And I've basically decided, i care more about my ideas than winning. because if you win by selling out everything you believe in,youre not winning anyway. Even if you win, you lose.
You know, I was actually considering suspending my support for the forward party based on the idea that if donald trump runs again, he is so dangerous that I'd have to consider a democratic vote just to stop him.
But...I once again realized if I did that I'd be selling out my ideology and opening the door to having to do this again in another 4 years, and then another 4.
I decided my message around UBI and my convictions in favor of it were so strong, I had to stick with UBI. I had to stick with human centered capitalism. My advocacy for that is more important to me, than voting against trump. It just is.
What normies do normies are going to do. One vote isnt going to affect the election and whomever wins is going to be decided by trends, not individuals. Even in swing states.
But, given my secular humanist ideology intersecting with my cosmic humanist one, I feel an intense need to stick by my convictions on UBI NO MATTER WHAT. That's what gives me purpose in life, that's what I feel most at home advocating for. If I have a calling it is that. Abandoning it just feels wrong. And I just won't do that.
So, sorry Yang, you abandon UBI, you abandon me. And I can't be more disappointed in forward as a movement because of it. I honestly feel betrayed right now, and I'm not happy about it.
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