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Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party

forwardparty.com

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Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party

#41

Post by AlbertCory »

endisneigh wrote: post #12

One thing people misunderstand about third parties is that they don't need to win. If they're structured correctly (this is by far the most difficult bit), they can have significant political influence without ever winning a single election. For example, love him or hate him, Ralph Nader probably swayed the 2000 Election and had incredible influence over the outcome (for better or worse). Coming back to the Forward P…

Let's review the record:

Yang ran for President. Did very poorly.

Ran for NY Mayor. Did very poorly.

Why does making him the face of a new party make any sense at all?

Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party

#42

Post by fartingflamingo »

mperham wrote: post #10

https://www.forwardparty.com/platform He's not wrong; voting reform must be priority #1 for any 3rd party.

I'd say that depends on whether he wants his party to have official public mandates. Those certainly help, but they're not always strictly necessary when one's goal is to influence the political discourse...

Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party

#44

Post by ch4s3 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #16
bpodgursky wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a refundable tax credit... this is actually the same as cash.

Only if you have kids. Not so universal.

I’m suddenly imagining a Dickensian market for orphans in a future of ever more generous child tax credits.

Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party

#45

Post by spyckie2 »

endisneigh wrote: post #12

One thing people misunderstand about third parties is that they don't need to win. If they're structured correctly (this is by far the most difficult bit), they can have significant political influence without ever winning a single election. For example, love him or hate him, Ralph Nader probably swayed the 2000 Election and had incredible influence over the outcome (for better or worse). Coming back to the Forward P…

This.

I think the best way to think about this party is that the goal isn't to win elections (get the majority of votes, beat out the republican/democratic party) - it is to wield influence via a platform.

If you think Andrew Yang is establishing a political party to win a government race, I think its a bit too naive.

I think he is trying to use a third party lever to influence a bunch of small things to snowball into larger things, and he doesn't have the space to do that in the existing parties.

Ranked choice vote seems like the best low hanging fruit. If Yang can bring 5-10 more of these issues into the public eye, he will be the most influential person in politics, whether he is in office or not.

Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party

#47

Post by micromacrofoot »

tryptophan wrote: post #14
a_t48 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm tempted to back them purely for Ranked Choice Voting. Will be keeping an eye on this for the future.

Ugh I support electoral reform, but why the obsession with ranked choice? It is the second WORST voting system after first past the post, which is what we have now.

Second worst is still an upgrade.

Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party

#49

Post by endisneigh »

AlbertCory wrote: post #41
endisneigh wrote: post #12

One thing people misunderstand about third parties is that they don't need to win. If they're structured correctly (this is by far the most difficult bit), they can have significant political influence without ever winning a single election. For example, love him or hate him, Ralph Nader probably swayed the 2000 Election and had incredible influence over the outcome (for better or worse). Coming back to the Forward P…

Let's review the record: Yang ran for President. Did very poorly. Ran for NY Mayor. Did very poorly. Why does making him the face of a new party make any sense at all?

Is your logic that if someone runs and loses a few times for an election then they should stop trying?

Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party

#50

Post by anonporridge »

lalaland1125 wrote: post #22
endisneigh wrote: post #12

One thing people misunderstand about third parties is that they don't need to win. If they're structured correctly (this is by far the most difficult bit), they can have significant political influence without ever winning a single election. For example, love him or hate him, Ralph Nader probably swayed the 2000 Election and had incredible influence over the outcome (for better or worse). Coming back to the Forward P…

The main issue is that third parties often have the opposite effect that their supporters want. They draw voters from the more aligned main party, causing that aligned main party to lose elections. Third parties hurt the interests of their own supporters. There are good reasons why the Democratic Party tends to support the Libertarian Party and the Republican Party tends to support the Green Party [1]. 1. https://www…

One advantage of Yang's platform (at least during his Presidential run) is that he was able to draw people from both sides of the aisle to his side.

He's not quite a centrist as much as he's trying to break completely out of the left/right dichotomy and compile the best policy ideas that often neither party is supporting, which appeals to a lot of people.

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