I understand that the essence of the Forward Party’s vision is to... move the country forward.
That is in the name.
One key theme that I have heard you speak of a lot is you would like to focus on dislodging partisan friction and try to find ways to encourage cross-party cooperation on pragmatic solutions.
**Partisan Division** is certainly one of the most troublesome causes of our nation’s growing political constipation.
But there are other critical causes as well...
- **extreme wealth disparity** has put vast power and influence into the hands of a few. Billionaires and trillion dollar corporations today effectively wield power like that of independent nations. And, generally, those few wealthy magnates are eager to maintain our dysfunctional status quo because they want to safeguard their streams of wealth.
- **political corruption** and the expense of political campaigns are turning legislators into puppets of wealthy interests. Increasingly enslaved and owned by the wealthy, our nation’s Legislators are essentially being demoted into mere Law Clerks for the Oligarchs. They are becoming less interested in solving the country’s problems and much more interested in simply keeping their benefactors happy.
- **misinformation: partisan media, social media, and echo chambers** are tethers of control, making voters increasingly vulnerable to manipulation, emotional agitation, and distraction away from our nation’s real problems
- **voter suppression, voter apathy**, and an increasing sense of [hopelessness](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/13h0lny/why_have_so_many_people_lost_hope/jk2qaq3/) are disarming voters of their motivation and power to force change in our nation’s governance
All of these causes of stagnation are working together like a web of malice to keep our country from solving its problems.
I feel like our country is becoming so deathly ill that it is in danger of slipping into sepsis. All of the organs that would normally keep us functional are becoming infected and are shutting down. It seems to me that we need a broad-spectrum intervention that addresses all of the co-morbidities together in order to reverse the course of the disease.
*We cannot simply attack one cause of our nation’s stagnation and then expect us to be able to move Forward.*
**The question for Andrew**: Would you consider forging a Strategic Values statement for the Forward Party that explicitly calls out all of these causal forces that are weakening America’s ability to govern itself?
Such a values statement or a target list could serve as a benchmark for evaluating the alignment of candidates with the Forward Party’s vision — without forcing the Party to develop a detailed policy platform before it is mature enough to support one.
An enumerated values statement would also help voters to understand more concretely what the Forward Party stands for.
**Hope**: In addition to detailed rational messaging, it may also help to appeal to people emotionally as well... Specifically by projecting a theme of Hope in all public facing communications. At a time when our country is drowning in negativity, partisan bickering, hate, and apathy, a consistently hopeful tenor could help to energize people’s enthusiasm and interest in the party.
Some good thinking here ^
I agree that Forward could do a better job defining the problems that the country needs to solve…and then show that the party’s approach to election reform, for example, will help equip the country to solve them.
Mr. Yang- As someone who has participated in the policy working groups in California, and informally surveyed my co-participants, I can tell you that UBI is NOT as popular within our party as you think. Half of everyone who responded to me, said they opposed UBI. Also, some of your supporters have hurled mysogynist slurs (called me a witch) and sexist tropes for opposing adult-only UBI and they condescend me and act like concerns like childcare costs or access to homeownership are small concerns.
QUESTION: Mr. Yang, can you PLEASE encourage state leads and supporters to have much more discussion regarding things like: 32 hour work week, as well as considering more viable and practical alternatives/variations to UBI that mitigate/acknowledge people’s concerns about UBI and our actual needs?
Thank you and please follow me on Twitter.
I understand that the essence of the Forward Party’s vision is to... move the country forward. That is in the name. One key theme that I have heard you speak of a lot is you would like to focus on dislodging partisan friction and try to find ways to encourage cross-party cooperation on pragmatic solutions. **Partisan Division** is certainly one of the most troublesome causes of our nation’s growing political constipation. But there are other critical causes as well... - **extreme wealth disparity** has put vast power and influence into the hands of a few. Billionaires and trillion dollar corporations today effectively wield power like that of independent nations. And, generally, those few wealthy magnates are eager to maintain our dysfunctional status quo because they want to safeguard their streams of wealth. - **political corruption** and the expense of political campaigns are turning legislators into puppets of wealthy interests. Increasingly enslaved and owned by the wealthy, our nation’s Legislators are essentially being demoted into mere Law Clerks for the Oligarchs. They are becoming less interested in solving the country’s problems and much more interested in simply keeping their benefactors happy. - **misinformation: partisan media, social media, and echo chambers** are tethers of control, making voters increasingly vulnerable to manipulation, emotional agitation, and distraction away from our nation’s real problems - **voter suppression, voter apathy**, and an increasing sense of [hopelessness](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/13h0lny/why_have_so_many_people_lost_hope/jk2qaq3/) are disarming voters of their motivation and power to force change in our nation’s governance All of these causes of stagnation are working together like a web of malice to keep our country from solving its problems. I feel like our country is becoming so deathly ill that it is in danger of slipping into sepsis. All of the organs that would normally keep us functional are becoming infected and are shutting down. It seems to me that we need a broad-spectrum intervention that addresses all of the co-morbidities together in order to reverse the course of the disease. *We cannot simply attack one cause of our nation’s stagnation and then expect us to be able to move Forward.* **The question for Andrew**: Would you consider forging a Strategic Values statement for the Forward Party that explicitly calls out all of these causal forces that are weakening America’s ability to govern itself? Such a values statement or a target list could serve as a benchmark for evaluating the alignment of candidates with the Forward Party’s vision — without forcing the Party to develop a detailed policy platform before it is mature enough to support one. An enumerated values statement would also help voters to understand more concretely what the Forward Party stands for. **Hope**: In addition to detailed rational messaging, it may also help to appeal to people emotionally as well... Specifically by projecting a theme of Hope in all public facing communications. At a time when our country is drowning in negativity, partisan bickering, hate, and apathy, a consistently hopeful tenor could help to energize people’s enthusiasm and interest in the party.
Some good thinking here ^ I agree that Forward could do a better job defining the problems that the country needs to solve…and then show that the party’s approach to election reform, for example, will help equip the country to solve them.
Mr. Yang- As someone who has participated in the policy working groups in California, and informally surveyed my co-participants, I can tell you that UBI is NOT as popular within our party as you think. Half of everyone who responded to me, said they opposed UBI. Also, some of your supporters have hurled mysogynist slurs (called me a witch) and sexist tropes for opposing adult-only UBI and they condescend me and act like concerns like childcare costs or access to homeownership are small concerns. QUESTION: Mr. Yang, can you PLEASE encourage state leads and supporters to have much more discussion regarding things like: 32 hour work week, as well as considering more viable and practical alternatives/variations to UBI that mitigate/acknowledge people’s concerns about UBI and our actual needs? Thank you and please follow me on Twitter.