Presidential candidate Andrew Yang launched his candidacy in November of 2017, nearly two years before the rest of the candidates in the overflowing Democratic field. Running on the core idea of a Universal Basic Income, or what he coined the “Freedom Dividend,” which would give $1,000 to nearly every adult in America, it was an uphill battle from the get-go. Nobody knew the meaning of the letters in the acronym “U.B.I.” and nobody even knew who Yang was as a person. As the entrepreneur and founder of “Venture for America,” a fellowship program for recent college graduates who want to become startup leaders and entrepreneurs, Yang had no previous career in politics and spoke in a laid-back, passive tone of voice. In other words, he had almost no chance in the 2020 Democratic Primary. But it’s been more than two years since he announced his candidacy, and since then, Yang has managed to outlast the likes of New York Senator Kirstin Gillibrand and Vanity Fair Congressman, Beto O’Rourke. He now polls higher than career politicians such as Cory Booker, Tulsi Gabbard, and Amy Klobuchar less than 100 days before the Iowa Caucuses and qualified for all of the debates through December. He has raised nearly the same amount of money as Kamala Harris, the solid fourth place candidate who can be remembered for taking on Joe Biden during the first Democratic Debate. It’s easy to dismiss Yang as a “meme-candidate” who bribes his way into the polls (his opening statement during the second debate literally asked people to follow him on Twitter to have a chance of receiving the Freedom Dividend, $1000 every month for a year), but look deeper into Yang’s campaign and you’ll see just how far a combination of masterful online campaigning and a clear message will take you in the 21st century. With the backing of Silicon Valley Bros such as Elon Musk, Yang has managed to position himself as a candidate for the future. Yang has now amassed a cult-like following. The #YangGang now swarms the comment sections of nearly every video or post relating to the 2020 Democratic Primary Elections. One of Yang’s strengths, odd as it is, is his ability to unite the YouTube comment sections, which are known to be the cesspool of the internet. He appeared on the Joe Rogan Podcast and spoke about his platform for two hours. That video now has over four million views with a like to dislike ratio of 130K to 7.8K. Rogan’s podcast, which is known to host guests such as Milo Yiannopoulos, who sparked the Berkeley riots, but also guests such as Bernie Sanders, a Democratic-Socialist, has a largely homogenous audience in terms of political belief. Yang’s ability to resonate with voters all over the spectrum comes from his ability to stick to his core message of the “Freedom Dividend.” Utopian phrases of the “trickle up” economy juxtapose the dystopian future Yang paints, where all jobs have been automated away and wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few. While it may seem that Yang can answer nearly every question and relate it back to his “Freedom Dividend” to the point of becoming a gimmick, he is a memorable candidate that has without a doubt defined and inspired the conversation on the impending threat of automation. “It’s not left –– it’s not right –– it’s forward,” Yang says to his voters in a marathon 24-hour livestream Facebook live stream as he signs off. He moves closer to the screen to end the stream and flashes his “M.A.T.H” hat doing so. The meaning of that acronym? Make America Think Harder.
