Last month I literally didn’t know who this guy was. Today, I am writing an article about him. I guess that means that there must be something about him and his ideas. Or that I am easy to impress. Or maybe both.

The guy I am talking about is Andrew Yang, one of the candidates for the United States’ presidential elections of 2020. I will give you 10 good reasons why I am convinced that he is the best choice for the citizens of the US and why I believe that he will actually make it into the Oval Office.

1. Yang understands the Problem(s)

After discovering Andrew Yang on Youtube, I couldn’t let go and was listening to him for 5 hours non-stop. Hearing what he has to say, I had the impression that Yang understands many of the true causes for a number of urging problems the American society is facing and will face.

The analytical way in which Yang is approaching problems feels refreshing and the innovative solutions he is offering are definitely worth looking at.

But before getting deeper into his policies and the 10 reasons why he will become president, let’s have a brief look at who Andrew Yang is and why he is running for office:

Yang started out as a serial tech entrepreneur before announcing his candidacy in November 2017. The last organisation he founded is Venture for America (VFA) which is running since 2011. The idea of VFA:

To make talented young people stay where they are needed most and enable them to create new job opportunities in economically weak regions.

Until today the mission of VFA is a great success. More than 700 top college graduates joined a two-year fellowship program, creating 2,500 jobs in cities like Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. Although Venture for America is a huge success, after 6 years Yang came to a discouraging conclusion:

All the jobs VFA helped to create are a drop in the ocean.

He realized that automation is and will be the main reason for people’s job losses and that we will face a technological revolution where fewer and fewer people will be able to compete with the productivity rates that machines can achieve. Our current economic system — capitalism — will stop to value many domains of human labor as it simply needs less and less of it. Various studies provide support for this thesis.

According to McKinsey, Bain and MIT, this technological revolution will be three to four times faster and more dramatic than the industrial revolution. They project that 20–30% of US jobs will be subject to automation by 2030.

The trends are clear. However, little seems to be done.

Understanding what is coming at us, Yang reached out to many politicians in Washington in order to address the problem. However, according to Yang, they were not listening or didn`t take him seriously. After that, Trump becoming president in 2017 was the tipping point that pushed Yang to become active on his own. Since then, he reached out to many people who are working in those industries that will be affected by the upcoming technological disruption. Workers and employees such as call center agents, retail workers and truck drivers will be impacted the most, but also jobs that require higher education (e.g. radiologists) will be automated. Yang talked to them (mostly to truck drivers) and tried to get this message across:

The American Dream that one can achieve everything one wants through hard work and diligence is disappearing bit by bit. Or, to say it even more clearly:

The truck will drive itself, no matter how good of a truck driver you are.

Some people argue that those who lose their jobs could “simply” learn a skill that is needed. Sounds great, but studies have shown that the success rate of learning a new skill that is valued by the market (such as software programming) is extremely low.

In order to solve this problem, we have to radically change the way we think!

Currently we are all trapped in the mindset that we have to find value based upon what the market demands. But the market does not value many of the things that are core to our existence (such as parenting, volunteer & social work, health care etc.). And what the market finds valuable will change even faster and therefore many people will suddenly find themselves in a realm that does not need human labor anymore. Many will feel left behind and worthless. History, such as the Industrial Revolution have shown us that this kind of scenario can be toxic for a society. Times when people lost their jobs often led to polarization, protests, resistance and even riots. People are prone to buy into radical ideas that trigger their emotions rather than to respond with reason to complex economic changes. So the magic question:

What can we do about it?

2. Yang has a Vision

Although the scenario described above sounds frightening, there is actually no reason to be afraid of the future — if we plan it well.

Analyzing the situation, it seems obvious that due to technological progress and automation we are able to create much more goods and services while working less. Basically, the pie gets bigger and bigger, making the question “who gets a piece of it and under which conditions?” all the more salient.

Yang’s answer to this question consists in what he calls “Human-Centered Capitalism” — a new form of capitalism that is geared towards maximizing human well-being and fulfillment based on the three following principles:

Yang’s idea of a “Human-Centered Capitalism” tackles fundamental flaws in the system such as the way we currently define and measure (national) “wealth” — the concept of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) . To understand why GDP is a poor way of assessing the well-being of a nation, consider the following examples:

If a person digs a hole and another fills it with sand, both get paid: GDP, and therefore our economy grows! If someone spends $10 million buying a yacht while 10.000 people lose 100$ in purchasing power each, GDP — and therefore our national wealth — will still grow by $9 million! If you raise your kids and do volunteer work for homeless people, GDP won’t move a bit.

These examples reveal how we are perceiving each other’s value in society as of today. We are rewarding and admiring those who are successful rather than those adding value to society. If you are a professional poker player, able to make millions by playing a game better than others, you will be viewed as a truly successful person, although you didn’t generate any added value to society.

That said, Yang is planning to use indicators people actually care about, that are crucial to their well-being and to a functioning Human-Centered Capitalism. Below you can see the list from Yang’s campaign website, illustrating how he plans to measure economic prosperity:

3. Yang has a Symbol

If you want to grab people’s attention and win an election, what you need is a strong symbol.

Andrew Yang’s symbol, which underpins his whole vision of a Human-Centered Capitalism, is called the “Freedom Dividend”, whereby:

“Every U.S. citizen over the age of 18 would receive $1,000 a month, regardless of income or employment status, free and clear. “

The goals of the Freedom Dividend include:

The Freedom Dividend is a perfect symbol everybody can understand and relate to. Basically, it can benefit Yang in the same way as “the Wall” did for Trump — in terms of being a strong symbol. It is such a crystal clear policy that if Yang becomes president, everyone can hold him accountable to his promise and ask “Where are my 1,000 bucks?” until it is implemented. No excuses!

Yang also does a great job at getting the idea of “basic income” out the socialist pigeonhole and overcomes the socialism-capitalism dichotomy by calling it Freedom Dividend. This name is the perfect terminology to make people look at $1000 per month from a different angle. Why? Consider the two words in turn:

$1000 per month can be viewed as a citizen right that is granted to every American just due to the fact of being a US citizen. It can be compared to your passport, the right to vote, the 2nd amendment or the right to free speech. Most people are taking such citizen rights for granted, purely by being Americans and thereby beneficiaries of certain achievements their nation has accomplished. Why not doing the same with a Freedom Dividend?

From a capitalist perspective, one could argue that a nation functions similarly to a business where shareholders own a company, appoint managers that are supposed to run the company in their best interest and benefit from the profits (in the form dividends) that are generated. Why not viewing the American people as shareholders of the US, all getting a piece of the wealth generated as it common to do for shareholders of Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook etc.? Yang calls it:

“Capitalism where income doesn’t start at zero”

That this idea is not total nuts has already been proven in Alaska since 1982, where every citizen receives an annual dividend from the state-owned corporation — the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC). In the last 5 years in between $1.000-$2.000 got paid out to each Alaska resident annually. Since its introduction, the Permanent Fund Dividend remains widely popular among Republicans and Democrats in Alaska. As for the question of how to finance the Freedom Dividend on a national level, Yang claims that:

“technology is the oil of the 21st century”

Currently, profits generated from technology — and the automation of work through machines and software — are going to the corporations that own the latter, not to the people whom they replaced. Being aware of this circumstance, this holds a great opportunity to pay for the Freedom Dividend. How Andrew Yang plans to pay for it in detail, you can learn here.

One narrative political opponents might use against the Freedom Dividend during debates is that of freedom from government interference. American people don’t trust the government, don’t want it to interfere in their lives and be dependent on it. Taking the example of Alaska and the overall history of bureaucracy in the US, Andrew Yang claims that the government has proven to be reliable doing one thing, that is:

Sending checks!

The Freedom Dividend would make many things more simple, cutting out much of the bureaucracy which is currently needed to customize and organize welfare programs. Also, it will empower people to decide what to do with their money instead of pushing them to prove that they are in need and then telling them on what to spend “their” money (e.g. food stamps programs). With respect to these thoughts, the best outcome of the Freedom Dividend would be to take away stigmatisation and increase the feeling of self-worth among former recipients of welfare.

To me, all of these arguments make the Freedom Dividend an appealing concept which is definitely worth thinking about more deeply. You can learn more about it here.

4. “Not left, not right, forward”

Andrew Yang can change the narrative of Left vs. Right. He often emphasizes that the concept of Left vs. Right will not bring society any further. Whereas a competition of (political) ideas is great, the current political climate of Democrats vs. Republicans seems very toxic, because neither party gives any credit to the other no matter how good an idea or policy might be. To me, Yang appears as a problem solver with a nonpartisan, pragmatic mindset which makes it easy for him to talk to, listen and convince people from all political camps and create common ground based on ideas and policies, not ideology.

In a Washingten Post article, Angie Shindelar, a 53-year-old math teacher from Greenfield, Iowa, who came to a speech of Andrew Yang makes the point that:

“Everything feels like it’s about bashing Trump or reacting to Trump instead offering some vision looking forward […] He [Yang]’s the first person I’ve really heard that is looking forward and has vision in a way that can maybe overcome some of that division.” (source)

5. “If a dude can unite a Youtube comment section, he can unite a country.”

So far, Andrew Yang did a pretty good job at convincing prominent people from different political camps of his ideas. Yang was a guest at The Ben Shapiro Show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, The Joe Rogan Experience, Cenk Uygur, Sam Harris’ Making Sense Podcast, The Jimmy Dore Show and many more. Together, they are covering a broad spectrum of the political scene from left to right, if we stick with the terms Yang tries to avoid ;)

The Youtube comment sections under the above mentioned interviews speak volumes about how people perceive Yang and his ideas. If you have any idea about what the comments usually look like when a democrat debates Ben Shapiro, you will be rather surprised at how overwhelmingly positively Yang was received. Anyhow, Youtube comments are fun, so here you get my personal Top 3 for each of the shows mentioned above.

Cenk Uygur Top 3 Comments:

The Ben Shapiro Show Top 3 Comments:

Tucker Carlson Tonight Top 3 Comments:

Joe Rogan Experience Top 3 Comments:

Making Sense with Sam Harris Top 3 Comments:

The Jimmy Dore Show Top 3 Comments:

6. Yang is the perfect candidate against Trump

Not being an ideologist but a pragmatic problem solver (basically number 4. & 5.) will give Yang a strong leverage against Trump. Yang himself is joking that:

“the opposite of President Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math.”

Sounds funny but has a core of truth. Yang is actually not spending much energy on anti-Trump talk. He is rather putting the emphasis on ideas, policies, problems and solutions. This leaves the door open for many people to listen to him instead of putting him into an ideological box. And indeed, his current supporters come from a very wide political spectrum. Yang’s ideas attract liberals, conservatives, democrats, republicans, left, right, and those who supported Trump in the last election.

A characteristic that distinguishes Yang from Trump and that I personally appreciate is his light-hearted way to deal with criticism and verbal attacks. He can laugh off attacks and seems to never take them personally. Yang can also laugh about himself — for me, a great personality trait. Besides his unquestionable qualities as a debater, these traits will also help him to win against Trump (once he becomes the Democratic nominee).

7. Americans love Underdogs

The American people have always showed appreciation for new candidates with new mind-sets and fresh ideas who entered the race as outsiders. Trump and Bernie Sanders were two good examples of this during the last election, when both attracted many supporters while starting as underdogs. As the first Asian-American Democratic presidential candidate in US history and as a champion of many innovative policies, Andrew Yang is in a great position to take advantage of these pro-underdog sympathies.

8. 105 Policies

While this article was being written, Andrew Yang has outlined 105 policies that he is planning to implement if he wins the race for presidency. To my knowledge, none of the other democratic candidates gets even close to this number. Most of his policies are very concrete and easy to understand while capable of solving pressing problems. To take but one example, consider what Yang calls “democracy dollars”.

Yang — as probably many others — sees a big problem in the way wealthy individuals and companies influence the elections and politicians with their donations.

Yang`s solution:

“T he easiest way to do this is to provide Americans with publicly funded vouchers they can use to donate to politicians that they support. Every American gets $100 a year to give to candidates, use it or lose it. These Democracy Dollars would, by the sheer volume of the US population, drown out the influence of mega-donors. It has been used in Seattle to great effect, and we can take their program national to move towards publicly funded elections.”

His other 104 policies you can find here:

9. Tremendous Grassroots Support

Rally in Seattle

Although Andrew Yang is still unknown to the wider public, he was one of the first candidates who passed the participation thresholds for the first two debates on June 26–27 and July 30–31. In order to qualify, candidates must accumulate 1% in three approved polls or collect contributions in any amount from at least 65,000 unique donors — Yang achieved both.

With more than 100.000 unique donors, Yang currently has a wider pool of donors than even Joe Biden, who is leading in the national polls. Equally important, Andrew Yang also gets people out on the streets. During his last rallies, a couple of thousands showed up in San Francisco, in Los Angeles and Seattle.

10. The “YangGang”

This point goes along with the previous one, but I want to emphasize it again because it makes Andrew Yang sort of unique. Yang’s supporters refer to themselves as the“YangGang” and seem to me to combine a great mixture of different attitudes.

On the one hand, “they” (as far as it is possible to generalize) seem to share a strong conviction and passion about the vision promoted by Yang. At the same time, it seems to be a fun crowd with good vibes and a positive spirit, not taking themselves too seriously and having a sense for self-irony. The many funny memes that the YangGang is circulating on the internet is the best proof of this.

If the Yang Gang can keep their positive vibes, being open and respectful to other opinions and stays friendly, this will make people more receptive to Yang and his Gang.

And as you might imagine having read until this paragraph, I am a Yangster myself while not even being an American, but a German :)

So why do I care?

Well, in the same way the US gave us Trump, his ideas, behavior and mindset —thereby setting a questionable example to the rest of the world — this time Andrew Yang as a president has the potential to send a powerful positive message all over the one earth ball we (still) have.

What can you do?

If you became curious about the ideas of Andrew Yang, take some time and read/listen more about it to make up your own mind.

If you got value out of this article and feel like more people should read it, clap for it (max. 50 times) and feel free to share it wherever you want.

Thanks and remember…