Crazy to me how many people would rather not consider the Founding Fathers in politics today. Just because we have smartphones and internal combustion engines doesn't mean that general political ideas have changed much at all. People scare and disappoint me lately.
Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party
411–420 of 638 posts
Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party
#412I raised over 400k for Andrew's POTUS run and devoted a year of my life to running his official Reddit (104k subs at peak), then joined a SuperPAC to further his positions after the run. The campaign team was full of fools who squandered almost every good turn received, most campaign workers were paid less than minimum wage, and Andrew eventually stole the pac's name and branding - Humanity Forward - put everyone out…
Edit: Proof accepted. Thank you! Sorry, but I'd like some proof about, really, any of this. For example, that you were a moderator of his official subreddit. I dislike Yang making a third party, but this is a pretty hefty charge.
This is a great public example of Yang being morally rudderless:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/05/andrew-yangs-israeli...
Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party
#413Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 51-49 falls apart because the 51 can dictate the 49, I assume? Great, then what about having the 49 (as of total vote) having found ways to dictate the 51? That would be even more instable, wouldn't it? I mean the issue is dictating isn't it? I think the congressional setup in America makes a lot of sense generally speaking, though it's not without faults. > he lived in a period were conquering swaths of land was m…
When exactly did Napoleon exterminate and enslave the people of the countries he "conquered" (he usually defeated them in a decisive battle and then had them sign treaties, he never dissolved, e.g. the Prussian Empire). He did reintroduce slavery in the French colonies, and should be called out for it. As should France and all other countries on their colonial history, and they are. A civil war is different in the re…
Sorry I just disagree, and starting wars and killing hundreds of thousands is pretty comparable to exterminating and enslaving people as far as my moral compass is concerned.
I'm not really here to defend statues or whatever, but I just don't follow the logic in who we decide was a bad man.
> A civil war is different in the regard, that the defeated party is part of the same nation. So yes, I think the better analogy would be Napoleon statues in the UK. Or Wellington ones in France. And aren't there some of these statues on federal property as well?
These are comparable to the US civil war?
Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party
#414The top line, "Not Left. Not Right. Forward." kind of reminds me of Macron's "En Marche" ("Let's Go") that took over France in a storm, taking over the presidency AND the parliament only one year after its foundation, with very few previously known political figures in its ranks. The whole thing looked like doing management rather than politics, and offered an alternative to fed-up voters who didn't dare turn to the…
I suspect a huge part of Macron's success was his opponent. France elections have a top-2 runoff, and I wouldn't be surprised if many electors were like "I don't like Macron but I really don't want Le Pen to win". The whole "socially progressive, economically middle of the road" political coalition that would win every election on HN is extremely unpopular in the real world.
I completely disagree with your assessment and would be very curious how you got to your opinion that "extremely unpopular in the real world".
I suspect it comes down to how we define "socially progressive".
Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party
#415Earlier quoted context omitted.
> People seem to take the unity of U.S. for granted. But there is nothing granted about it. I agree completely. It’s hard for us to imagine seeing it break up but there is nothing that prevents that except our general desire to live together. I think large democracies with functioning governments are very unstable over long time horizons. The reason I mention functioning is that if the government of a large democracy…
An entire bloody Civil War was fought over (among other things) whether or not it was possible to break up the USA. The outcome was: States cannot leave. The Constitution does not address secession, but the Supreme Court has consistently interpreted the Constitution to have created a union that is in their words, indestructible,”[1] and ultimately the Civil War seems to have pretty convincingly established the illega…
Definitely interesting but could you explain or expand upon what your point was here?
Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party
#416Earlier quoted context omitted.
Voltaire is an author, not a politician. Hardly the same thing. EDIT: Today Voltaire could be regarded as an anti-semite it seems. Maybe more due to his disdain for religion, and Judaism being the oldest mono-theistic religion, than a true hate for Jews but still. Always nice to read up, even just quickly, on people and things. And he corrected these statements after being called out for them, specifying he disagrees…
He was a lot of things, including a political philosopher and he is quoted as such by Macron. You can split these hairs indefinitely, I don't think it changes the (I think more than amply) demonstrated fact that the political system of France is, among other things, thoroughly permeated by 18th century stuff and politicians allude to it and refer to it directly all the time.
Not at all, the Founding Fathers, as implies their name, founded a nation. Voltaire did nothing like that. Philosophers are quoted all the time, and yet nobody really tries to justify his plans by interpreting what these philosophers would think about them. That's not splitting hairs, it is about not drawing falls equivalents.
Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party
#417Earlier quoted context omitted.
>He's not trustworthy, he's a horrible manager of people, and he never pays off on what he promises. The man was running for POTUS. Do you expect the men who lead the world to uphold your own moral standard? From Machiavelli's The Prince: >Every one admits how praiseworthy it is in a prince to keep faith, and to live with integrity and not with craft . Nevertheless our experience has been that those princes who have…
> The man was running for POTUS. Do you expect the men who lead the world to uphold your own moral standard? Yes?!? It’s insane to me how little some people expect of their elected officials. Yes, the cynical side of me knows it’s never going to 100% live up to expectations once they're in power but good grief. "things can never be good, here is a 16th century essay that proves my point" is just self-fulfilling proph…
If you wish to acquire any kind of power, you cannot embarass yourself with right and wrong. Those who compete with you and won't do so will overrun you. Just like companies in a market or competing species in an ecological niche, you need to be as ruthless as possible. The universe has no regards for your morals.
And against the Putins and Xi Jipings of the world, I would not want a virtuous saint upheld by a tight moral code as a leader for my country.
Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party
#418I raised over 400k for Andrew's POTUS run and devoted a year of my life to running his official Reddit (104k subs at peak), then joined a SuperPAC to further his positions after the run. The campaign team was full of fools who squandered almost every good turn received, most campaign workers were paid less than minimum wage, and Andrew eventually stole the pac's name and branding - Humanity Forward - put everyone out…
IMO, this is an indictment of the structure, more so than the individual.
First, a campaign is a makeshift setup, staffed just in time and fired shortly after. Second a campaign is a campaign. It's about media attention, hammering messages and getting elected. Anything but a messy collapse, post election, is unlikely.
I'll suggest that what you wanted to be involved in isn't an individual campaign, it's a party or something that you could join. Something that is supposed to last, and where members are supposed to have influence. Otherwise, there's no room for daylight between the candidate and people supporting them and every crack is structural doom.
Yang Gang had a lot of self organising, organic aspects to it. But, it framed itself as a fan club. Yang Gang should have never been subservient to The Campaign, which is really just a bunch of underpaid youngsters run by a handful of professional, non-ideological experts. The campaign should have been subservient to Yang Gang.
"Support for Yang among Yang Gang" is a nonsensical frame. That's not sustainable.
Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party
#419The peoples party is the third party we need. Its not perfect, but its certainly better than Yangs... whatever his schtick is.
Re: Andrew Yang Founds the Forward Party
#420Earlier quoted context omitted.
Edit: Proof accepted. Thank you! Sorry, but I'd like some proof about, really, any of this. For example, that you were a moderator of his official subreddit. I dislike Yang making a third party, but this is a pretty hefty charge.
I have dm'd you proof, please edit your comment upon examining it and enjoy your day :) oh you can't do that here - my mistake -- this is where proof went, but I'd like to keep my reddit username kinda separate from here, hope yall understand.
I don't understand how that is proof of anything? Am I missing something. I'm just seeing an image of a subreddit.