Sure, Andrew Yang may be essentially advocating for Chinese style communism, but did you know that he watches football?!? I’m sold man. I mean yeah, what Andrew Yang stands for is essentially the opposite of American individualism, but he GETS THE ISSUES, and did you know that he watches the NBA and uses dead memes?!?!?! Such a cool guy, I might have to vote for Andrew Yang.
Sadly, that’s more or less the opinion of the apolitical on Andrew Yang. After all, it’s not hard to sell the image Yang is trying to sell in the midst of such gridlocked partisanship. The establishment DNC has no clear message outside of “orange man bad” and Andrew Yang has emerged as a refreshing candidate for simply discussing pressing issues. Trump’s election and the drama that has come with it has provided a perfect smokescreen for politicians to avoid talking about out of control cost of living, inadequate wage growth, health care woes and a broken college/student loan system. Establishment politicians – including Donald Trump – pay lip service to these pressing issues but ultimately, make little progress towards solving them.
Washington D.C. is a place that makes any political agenda drag to a screeching halt. Nobody gets anything done because once they’re in power, it just becomes about staying in power. Staying in power and keeping the correct lobbyists happy. No politician styled as a reformer or outsider has ever truly lived up to the billing, not Trump (yet) and certainly not Obama.
As a result, Andrew Yang has generated some buzz for simply discussing issues that nobody else seems to be talking about. Systemic, big picture issues that Washington would rather lay off in order to make re-election easier.
Voters – especially younger voters – are worried about what increased automation will do to the job market and want solutions. People want the healthcare system fixed and a simple choice of “Obama-care good” and “Obama-care bad” isn’t gonna cut it. Andrew Yang’s mere discussion of complex issues is refreshing for those who know that America’s political system is broken.
That’s about where the good ends and the issues start with Andrew Yang, particularly among self-described conservatives. Just because Andrew Yang is discussing important issues and running a personable campaign doesn’t change the fact that what he plans on introducing is eerily similar to Chinese style communism.
Yang wants to institute a social credit score that rewards citizens for good behavior. He also wants to introduce a $1,000 monthly, universal basic income for every American. Yang envisions UBI as a way to combat job loss as a result of automation and hopes to acquire the funds at little to no cost to the taxpayer. To do this he would introduce a VAT tax on corporations such as Amazon, entities Yang and like-minded individuals commonly accuse of “paying 0 in taxes”.
Yang also proposes very strict gun control that like all cosmopolitan elites, is unbeknownst to him. Andrew Yang says that a three-tiered, strict gun licensing system and mandatory submission of finger-prints and DNA to the FBI for rifle purchases are “common sense gun safety laws”. Under President Andrew Yang, the most basic license would allow citizens to own “basic hunting rifles and handguns”, whatever that means, provided they also buy a gun locker and/or trigger lock. Only after a year of having a “tier 1 license” can citizens buy semi-automatic rifles, provided they take an “advanced firearms safety class”. Yang has also stated that he wants to hold gun manufacturers responsible for mass shootings, proposing fines of $1,000,000 for every death.
On foreign policy, Yang thinks China shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a threat. He’s also quite the Russia hawk, because someone so in tune with the common folk knows that all people talk about is the Russian menace.
So what exactly about this platform differs from mainstream leftism in any way other than how it’s presented? Andrew Yang puts a bow on top of massive, unconstitutional intrusion into the lives of Americans, full fledged socialism branded as “it’s just $1k a month bro, get with the future” and some of the most restrictive gun laws proposed by a candidate. Is it somehow a less repulsive ideology because Andrew Yang miserably fails at capturing meme magic and watches basketball? That sure seems to be the prevailing thought among mainstream conservatives.
There’s this idea that just because one proposes radical ideas that go against any and everything conservatives stand for with a smile on their face, it should be listened to. I mean, Andrew Yang watches basketball after all, so there’s absolutely no way that the mammoth government expansion he plans could ever go astray. There’s simply no way that any problems could ever arise from a monthly UBI of $1,000 in a country of 330 million. Cost of living wouldn’t go up, the cash will always be flowing in and the millions of people who went from homeless to effective government employees at $6 an hour will be totally patient with any issues that arise. He’s polite, so that means the dangerous policies he proposes suddenly aren’t dangerous.
Self described conservatives need to get serious and realize that long term consequences will exist no matter how pure the intent was. Even if Andrew Yang is sincere in his idealistic, “good guy” approach, what he proposes will lead to the same disasters endured by every nation that has gone down this road. The massive growth and authority of government Yang proposes is antithetical to the ideals America was founded on and the fact that he markets himself well doesn’t change that.
“Conservatives” need to wake up and stop being saps who allow leftist radicals to dictate the terms. Andrew “I do regular people stuff now let’s have communism” Yang has gotten old and self-described right-wingers need to draw the line in the sand as to where their values are being infringed. As of right now, leftists set the goal posts and conservatives follow. This Ben Shapiro style, “both sides” for the sake of appearing reasonable will be the undoing of the right in the U.S..