Andrew Yang is a smart man but should not be president

It will be this time next year when voters head to the polls to decide the next president of the United States. The rhetoric from the last few elections has yet to change with pretty much every Republican or Democrat pundit and politician howling this will be “the most important election of our time.” Whether it is is up for debate.

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Impeachment, however, will more than likely be a major point of discussion once Democrats decide on a nominee. It’s likely the web, television, radio, print, rallies, and debates will be chock full of big talk accusing Democrats of attempting to undo the 2016 election via the House since they know they won’t win in 2020. Republicans will be accused of putting up a nominee who will more than likely be the third president to be impeached in the history of the country.

The big question is whether this type of negative ad cycle will affect the general public, the ones who spend most of their time attempting to enjoy life without the proliferation of politics in their life.

It’s a concern shared by current Democrat presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang who believes it’s more important to discuss ideas instead of impeachment.

“[W]hen we’re talking about Donald Trump, we are not presenting a new way forward and a positive vision for the country that Americans will get excited about,” Yang told NBC’s Meet the Press this morning while also avowing his support of impeachment. “That’s the only way we’re going to win in 2020. And that’s the only way we’re going to start actually solving the problems that got him elected. Even when we’re talking about impeaching Donald Trump, we’re talking about Donald Trump, and we are losing.”

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Yang is a smart man who appears more interested in potential solutions. Whether his solutions will work is up for debate as they tend to involve a more powerful government instead of figuring out ways to reduce its grasp on the general populace. There are plenty of flaws in his Universal Basic Income proposal especially since Yang also backs Medicare-for-All. The major concern with combining UBI along with other social services is it simply increases the tax burden on Americans along with government spending. The money will eventually run out. The Democracy Dollar proposal is just government-funding of politicians and ripe for abuse through people either keeping the money for themselves or giving it to others instead of donating it to candidates.

Yang’s entire notion of using the military to rebuild countries affected by climate change is rather wacky because of the broad solutions activists tend to slide towards. What happens should someone in power believe the military needs to be used to ‘help’ another country which pumps a large amount of pollution into the atmosphere? Would using “our military to project our power abroad by stabilizing areas impacted by climate change” involve going to war?

Yang is correct on one thing: tribalism, the idea one side is the best while the other is full of ghouls and vampires looking to suck the life out of Amerca, is a clear and present danger to the future.

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“[T]he vast majority of [my rally speech ] is just about the challenges that Americans are experiencing every single day,” he replied following a Chuck Todd question on why he bothered mentioning President Donald Trump in his speeches. “These challenges preceded Donald Trump. They will still be with us after Donald Trump is out of office. And if we don’t get to work solving these problems, then we’re just going to be trapped in this endless food fight. And the American people deserve much, much better.”

Americans do deserve better. However, it’s unlikely politicians and the government will be the ones who provide the solutions. Nothing is stopping Yang from using his solutions in the private sector. He could certainly give people money through scholarships or ‘Yang cash’ or whatever to promote future wealth.

Andrew Yang is an amiable candidate whose personality is welcome on the campaign trail. His major economic ideas, however, are not the solutions the country needs to increase freedom and liberty.

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