Forward Party’s Andrew Yang and Tania Ruedas-Ortiz, Director of Community Events for OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION.
Over 100 fans of Andrew Yang gathered in Los Angeles on August 4th, 2024 to hear Yang’s plans for the Forward Party.
The party’s slogan is “Not Left. Not Right. Forward.”
Yang became a national sensation in the 2020 Democratic presidential race by focusing on innovative solutions to public policy challenges. His campaign got a lot of buzz for proposing a $1,000 monthly Universal Basic Income (UBI) grant to those on the bottom rungs of the socioeconomic ladder.
The idea behind UBI is that, given a little financial stability and breathing room, lower-income individuals can get started on an upward trajectory.
Yang’s current policy focuses on the merits of Ranked Choice Voting, which many believe will make independent and moderate candidates more likely to win elections. A handful of states, counties and cities have adopted Ranked Choice Voting and Yang is hoping more will jump on the bandwagon in coming years.
See Yang’s TED Talk to learn more about why he favors Ranked Choice Voting.
Yang is also hoping more and more candidates will run as members of the Forward Party. The current two-party system is broken, according to Yang.
Getting recognized as a viable political party is exceedingly challenging.
In California, third parties need to gather 73,000 signatures to qualify. As a precaution, the California branch of Forward (ForwardPartyCA.org) wants to collect more than the required amount of signatures.
Republican and Democratic party leaders tend to do their best to undermine third-party candidates; they fear the competition.
And yet, according to Yang, 72% of Californians want a new party. Yang said he is hopeful that by 2028, the Forward Party will be recognized in all 50 states.
Yang hinted at his desire to run for president again one day, something his fans were pleased to hear.
The LA gathering was mostly a pro-Kamala Harris crowd. If she becomes president and does well, it seems impossible to imagine Yang challenging her in 2028. The Forward Party is taking a long-term approach, convinced that one day America will be ready for a centrist third party.
“There is a massive appetite for change,” according to Yang.
My biggest takeaway was how interesting I found Yang’s supporters to be. They call themselves the “Yang Gang.”
Several wore MATH hats – Make America Think Harder. Quite a few seemed very well-versed in the nuances of public policy.
This seemed like a very smart – and energized – crowd.
One individual, Jonathan Elliot, revealed he was a member of MENSA. He runs a website, a2e-highlights.net, that provides well-thought-out answers to almost any question about political, economic or social issues.
A2E stands for “Answers 2 Everything.”
One woman we met worked with Native Americans and another gave us an overview of what her faith community is doing to reduce homelessness in Los Angeles County.
The vibe was positive all around. So much of politics is angry these days; there was none of that at this Yang rally. Everybody seemed happy.
Andrew Yang has a great sense of humor, much appreciated in today's cranky times.
My colleague, Tania Ruedas-Ortiz, and I got to meet Andrew Yang.
Tania and I are with OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION (ONC for short), a new nonprofit whose goal is to is to reduce partisanship and get America talking again. ONC is part media outlet, part student-led think tank and part social movement, largely powered by members of Gen Z – America’s future leaders.
We spoke with Andrew Yang for quite a while. Yang is very approachable and seemed quite interested in learning more about our organization.
For those not familiar with OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION, we’ve organized a small army of student interns from coast to coast who want to change the tenor of America’s political dialogue.
Our students, gently guided by some experienced mentors, built a website, OurNationalConversation.org (soon to be upgraded). They also host weekly podcasts.
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION's student interns also wrote a book, “Let’s Fix America.” It contains 34 nonpartisan policy recommendations intended to make America a better country.
Andrew Yang has been at this for five years now. His next big goal is getting the Forward Party registered in all 50 states by 2028.
Social change takes time, so we might as well enjoy the ride.
The Yang Gang seems to know how to do this.
Acknowledgment: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author.
So sad he stopped selling the MATH hat 🧢!! I wanted to buy one after I saw a pic of Nick Cage wearing it but couldn’t find it anywhere!!
I think Yang is a bright spot in today's bleak and redundant political landscape. The two party system simply does not offer enough real diversity of thought on policy that Gen Z actually wants to see change on; i.e., the conclusion of America's role as the global police and accompanying interventionist foreign policy, a decoupling from Israel, more domestic oreinted policies with a focus on lowering the cost of living, etc. When it comes to these issues, both parties feel like two sides of the same coin.
The fact that there is a broad consensus on the desire for a third party is promising. Americans have become disenchanted with party politics. Yang's focus on problem solving and building a promising future are traits which are missing in the current discourse. The polarized establishment could stand to learn a lot from the refreshing ideas of Andrew Yang.
Requiring signatures isn't an innately problematic concept, it's the frequency at which parties need to continue drumming up signatures that sets them behind. The issue is there are so many small third parties that none of them stand out against the two main parties. I think Yang's previous support makes his party a good candidate for a third party that can stand out. Though despite it's presentation as a centrist party, most of the policies, at least expressed in this article, are left-leaning (as groups with a large youth following tend to be). If Yang had policies to draw in more conservative support, perhaps it could help solidify its identity as a centrist party.