Yang2020 fighting back and rising up

While the Democratic Party regards Andrew Yang as an underdog in the run for presidential nomination, Yang2020 is fighting back for all it’s worth. The unusual part about it is that the fight is taking place online and in various social media.

Yang, who just turned 45 in January, is the second youngest of the candidates; and he is the first Asian-American to run such a wide-sweeping campaign. As the founder of Venture for America, he dreams of making capitalism more human-centered at a time when the 4th industrial revolution is underway.

Here he is speaking with CNBC‘s John Harwood, host of Speakeasy, on human-centered capitalism and the Freedom Dividend in October 2019.

Yang, a Brown University graduate in economics, explains how he believes the fourth industrial revolution will take over during the 21st century, effectively displacing humans from work. Financialization is “the tail wagging the dog” but nevertheless is where corporations are heading to squeeze maximum profits.

“The vanishing jobs are due in part to the incredible development of both computing power and artificial intelligence. You might have heard of Moore’s Law, which states that computing power grows exponentially, doubling every 18 months…People didn’t think Moore’s Law could hold for the past 50 years, but it has, and computers continue to get smarter.”—The War on Normal People

Nerds for Andrew Yang 2020 (NFY) is a volunteer-run social media and YouTube channel which has tracked Yang2020’s statistics, comparing anything from news coverage to actual polls with other candidates. (After all, doing the math is one of Yang’s specialties.) Here is Tom interviewing Evelyn Yang about why she thinks it’s okay for her husband to run for president.

This interview reveals what motivates Andrew Yang, the values he represents, and stepping up to a platform that is a humanity-first movement. As a woman, Evelyn appears to be matter-of-fact, congenial, and poised.

One of the challenges Yang has, similar to the challenge Bernie Sanders faced in 2016, is building name-recognition among black and brown voters. Here is an interview AGN found where Yang speaks at the Brown and Black Democratic Presidential Forum. Zach and Matt are hosts at Vice News in this town hall.

The dudes hit Andrew Yang with some tough inner-city attitude and questions like “why are you being supported by white supremacists?” or “what about economists who claim the Freedom Dividend will exacerbate the racial-economic wealth gap?” Again Yang’s comebacks are anything but smug. He understands the reassurances that having a steady income provides especially for the poor.

“A culture of scarcity is a culture of negativity. People think about what can go wrong. They attack each other. Tribalism and divisiveness go way up. Reason starts to lose ground. Decision-making gets systematically worse…If this seems familiar, this is exactly what we are seeing by the numbers here in America. We are quickly transitioning from the land of plenty to the land of ‘you get yours, I get mine.'” —Yang, The War on Normal People

Optimism and seeing beyond stereotypes is especially hard when one is afflicted by scarcity. Multiple sources of stress can make one fly off the handle. So here is Yang calling one of the recipients of the 2019 Freedom Dividend awards. (*Note this is the full not reduced version of Stockton’s Mayor Tubbs.)

Even with the growing press, the NFY knows when the news coverage is inadequate. The neo-liberal (free-market democracy) Politico even derides him as a one-issue candidate in a divisive slam. Nevertheless the Yangs made an impressive showing on ABC’s The View in early January with Whoopi Goldberg, Meghan McCain, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and Abby Huntsman. The interview provides Yang an opportunity to state how his foreign policy would differ from President Trump, his inspirations for the Freedom Dividend, and for Evelyn, the challenges they have faced as a family needing accessibility for their child.

Even with fewer honorable mentions and prime-time questions for the candidate, Yang2020 is forging ahead with town halls in key states including Iowa and Nevada. Here is a town forum in Muscatine, Iowa live-streamed.

Iowa is a battle-ground state because it still represents all-America in the sense of being in the heartland. Muscatine is where Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) lived briefly as a journalist. Just last week, Yang spoke at Muscatine Community College, addressing a crowd of diverse students, tradespeople, and business-owners on authentic 21st century indicators, and “A New Way Forward” to help the economy work for the U.S. by honoring people’s intrinsic worth. He mentions ways to reduce corporate influence on elections, and responds to critical questions from the audience about anything from legalizing cannibis to better protections for food safety and clean drinking water.

Like Senator Bernie Sanders, Yang2020 is running a clean campaign without corporate PAC dollars. Amazingly Andrew Yang has managed to thrive and the campaign continues to grow with new policies being added (as well as store items).

 

Screenshot from The View, ABC (Jan 8, 2020)