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> The party, which is centrist, has no specific policies yet. It will say at its Thursday launch: "How will we solve the big issues facing America? Not Left. No

by yuan43 4y ago

> The party, which is centrist, has no specific policies yet. It will say at its Thursday launch: "How will we solve the big issues facing America? Not Left. Not Right. Forward." Universal basic income was a major part of Yang's campaign in 2020. Given enough time, I suppose it could become centrist. In the meantime, this raises the question of what positions this new party will support exactly. > .. The leaders cited a Gallup poll last year showing a record two-thirds of Americans believe a third party is needed. One of the reasons they do so badly is that American third parties have almost nothing to do with respect to local governance. They tend to be focused on trying to win national elections. It's hard to build a bench of electable national candidates when so few of them have run a city or state under the banner of the party they're running with. Unless this third party is willing to make a serious investment in local governance, I doubt it will do much better than the others.

Mountain_Skies 4y ago
2/3rds are unhappy with the two main parties but they're not unhappy in the same ways, so it's not possible for any third party to capture that 67% or probably even 33% or 3.3%. Once they come up with their own bundle of positions, most people are going to be unhappy with something in their platform. Living in an intersectionalist age, anything other than absolute compliance with one's unique set of positions makes others unacceptable and often are seen as being just as "evil" as those who are 100% opposed.
- carapace 4y ago
  It reminds me of the "happy families are all alike, unhappy families are unhappy in their own way" quote from Anna Karenina. I think to be successful the first order of business will be to establish the process of reaching compromise itself a base principle. We have to recognize that we can't all get everything we want, but we can try for the "highest common denominator", if you will, of our shared values. We can respect each other even if we don't all agree on every issue.
thr0wawayf00 4y ago
> One of the reasons they do so badly is that American third parties have almost nothing to do with respect to local governance. This just isn't true, third parties like Democratic Socialists of America (Bernie Sanders' party)[0] are heavily involved in state and local politics in various parts of the country through grassroots efforts and have been for years. For example, they now represent 10% of the Chicago City Council (5 seats). Groups like DSA are also heavily involved in projects like unionizing Amazon. They do a lot for their local communities beyond supporting policy. People think that third parties are just in for Federal races primarily because we're exposed to so much more Federal politics in the press than we are state and local. 0: https://www.dsausa.org/ https://www.dsausa.org/
- yuan43 4y ago
  The Wikipedia writeup mentions some of the wins in local and state elections. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Socialists_of_America#State_and_local_offices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Socialists_of_Ameri... It's a start. But the US has over 89,000 local governments. A few dozen office holders is not even a drop in the bucket. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/governments/cb12-161.html https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/government...
yucky 4y ago
I don't understand the appeal of UBI. The official line is that it will replace all of the bureaucracy of the existing welfare structure and simplify it, giving handouts to everyone. Aside from the obvious inflation concerns that have been beaten to death and considering our current reality I don't even care to argue that point anymore. But the one reality of UBI that I've never heard addressed is what happens with the crackhead parent who smokes up the $1,500 in the first week (or gambles away, or blows on a 80" TV or whatever)....do we just let their kids starve for the rest of the month? Of course not, so now we're back to needing other programs to supplement the cash handout. That reality is never factored into the cost estimates. Why not, and what is the actual solution?

by yuan43 4y ago

Mountain_Skies 4y ago

2/3rds are unhappy with the two main parties but they're not unhappy in the same ways, so it's not possible for any third party to capture that 67% or probably even 33% or 3.3%. Once they come up with their own bundle of positions, most people are going to be unhappy with something in their platform. Living in an intersectionalist age, anything other than absolute compliance with one's unique set of positions makes others unacceptable and often are seen as being just as "evil" as those who are 100% opposed.

carapace 4y ago
It reminds me of the "happy families are all alike, unhappy families are unhappy in their own way" quote from Anna Karenina. I think to be successful the first order of business will be to establish the process of reaching compromise itself a base principle. We have to recognize that we can't all get everything we want, but we can try for the "highest common denominator", if you will, of our shared values. We can respect each other even if we don't all agree on every issue.

thr0wawayf00 4y ago

> One of the reasons they do so badly is that American third parties have almost nothing to do with respect to local governance. This just isn't true, third parties like Democratic Socialists of America (Bernie Sanders' party)[0] are heavily involved in state and local politics in various parts of the country through grassroots efforts and have been for years. For example, they now represent 10% of the Chicago City Council (5 seats). Groups like DSA are also heavily involved in projects like unionizing Amazon. They do a lot for their local communities beyond supporting policy. People think that third parties are just in for Federal races primarily because we're exposed to so much more Federal politics in the press than we are state and local. 0: https://www.dsausa.org/ https://www.dsausa.org/

yuan43 4y ago
The Wikipedia writeup mentions some of the wins in local and state elections. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Socialists_of_America#State_and_local_offices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Socialists_of_Ameri... It's a start. But the US has over 89,000 local governments. A few dozen office holders is not even a drop in the bucket. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/governments/cb12-161.html https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/government...

yucky 4y ago

I don't understand the appeal of UBI. The official line is that it will replace all of the bureaucracy of the existing welfare structure and simplify it, giving handouts to everyone. Aside from the obvious inflation concerns that have been beaten to death and considering our current reality I don't even care to argue that point anymore. But the one reality of UBI that I've never heard addressed is what happens with the crackhead parent who smokes up the $1,500 in the first week (or gambles away, or blows on a 80" TV or whatever)....do we just let their kids starve for the rest of the month? Of course not, so now we're back to needing other programs to supplement the cash handout. That reality is never factored into the cost estimates. Why not, and what is the actual solution?