It’s early in the 2020 Democratic Primary season, but many of the prominent candidates have already been grouped and sorted to create a convenient, simple narrative that contrasts the “progressives” against the “centrists.” Certain candidates, though, fly under the radar in every primary, and this year, one of the candidates getting the least mainstream attention is one of the few that does not neatly fall onto the current spectrum of the Democratic Party. That candidate is Andrew Yang, a Taiwanese-American entrepreneur from Schenectady, New York. To this point, Yang has appeared on the Fox family of networks much more than he has on other mainstream channels. This disparity probably has a lot to do with the fact that some of his policies are easy for Fox to denounce as examples for their narrative that the Democratic Party is heading towards extremism, but in reality, the candidacy of Andrew Yang is much more complicated. The appeal of Yang in the context of this primary lies in his ability to synthesize traditional left-wing and/or Democratic ideas with intriguing new ideas, most of which are specific propositions to solve serious problems.
The central message of Yang’s campaign is what he describes as “human-centered capitalism.” Yang notes that the main goal of fiscal policy should be to “make the economy work for Americans, not the other way around.” In order to achieve this goal, Yang has proposed the establishment of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), which he refers to as the “Freedom Dividend.” In this system, each American would receive $1000 a month starting at age 18, “no questions asked.” The history behind such a proposal is varied; Yang himself often notes that Americans ranging from Founding Father Thomas Paine to economist Milton Friedman have supported the idea in various forms. The program would be paid for by a tax on major tech companies, which stand to benefit the most from automation. One way in which Yang has managed to stand out from the crowded Democratic field has been in his willingness to discuss the harsh realities of the next automation wave, in which millions of trucking and retail jobs will be lost, and to propose specific solutions like the UBI.
Andrew Yang’s specific ideas are not limited to automation-related issues; in fact, his website, yang2020.com, lists over 70 policies. They range from mainstream Democratic Party ideas (such as prohibiting the sale of bump stocks) to key progressive goals (such as implementing Medicare for All) to outlandish new plans (such as the creation of a texting-based report system to discourage unwanted robocalls). One of the most intriguing policies listed on Yang’s website is the American Mall Act. The Act is a great example of Andrew Yang’s style. First, he identifies a serious problem that most politicians don’t discuss; in this case, he identifies the fact that many American malls are slowly dying, reduced from their former positions as community centers to unsightly hotbeds of crime. Then, he proposes a specific solution, which in this case is to provide $6 billion of funding in order to refurbish the malls into community centers. This method of outlining plans is very helpful, and makes perfect sense for the current political system. The websites for most political campaigns are limited to vague advertisements and personal stories, which leaves one to have to find information on candidates’ actual policies elsewhere; the problem with that, though, is that many people no longer trust most websites to paint an accurate and unbiased picture. Andrew Yang’s decision to provide clear policy outlines on his website is commendable because it demonstrates that he has a serious commitment to fighting for these specific policies, and allows his supporters to hold him accountable if he fails to fight for them.
Andrew Yang has a serious chance of going far in the Democratic Primary. Ultimately, there are very few major distinctions to be made between most centrist Democratic candidates; only the few who maintain the most name recognition will end up making it to the later stages of primary season. Something similar is likely to happen within the progressive wing, as it appears inevitable that most on the far left will eventually unite under Bernie Sanders. Yang offers something that is much harder to define, and therefore might turn out to be the unifying candidate that Democrats are searching for. He combines progressive policies with entrepreneurial spirit; an embrace of technology with safeguards for those it might harm; and anti-Trump sentiment with sympathy and respect for those who have supported him. After all, as Yang himself often states, the opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian guy who likes numbers. While Andrew Yang is not a particularly well-known candidate right now, don’t be surprised if he manages to hang around well into the campaign cycle.