Saturday, September 25, 2021

Yang, Key Doodle

As you may or may not have noticed, Andrew Yang's next big project is forming a new political party, the Forward Party. Announcement, of course, leaked from his forthcoming book, Forward (not an affiliate link).

The party's six planks (according to Dave Weigel) include one that I half-support and half-oppose (ranked-choice voting and open primaries), one that I oppose ("Universal Basic Income"), and four that are just gooey hints at kinder, gentler technocracy rather than actual policy positions.

It also sounds like the Forward Party will be set up to embrace non-exclusive membership and possibly endorse or cross-nominate candidates of other parties, like, say, the Working Families Party in New York, or the old Boston Tea Party, founded by some guy whose name escapes me at the moment.

As a long-time third party activist and founder of a third party, not to mention an ideologue, I expect to have some opinions on it.

I haven't pre-ordered the book (it comes out on October 5), and probably won't spend the money on it at full price ($14.99 Kindle, $25.20 hardback). Like most political books, I figure that within six months it will be on frequent $1.99 (if not "free") sale in Kindle format, and crowding every other title off the shelves of Dollar Tree in hardback.

But just in case one of you would like to see it reviewed ASAP, I've put it on my Amazon Wish List. If someone grabs it for me, I'll move it to the top of my reading list and share my thoughts on it within a week or so of getting it. 

I've included both Kindle and hardcover editions on the wish list. I'd prefer the Kindle version, and not just because it's cheaper (I can keep it open on one monitor to consult while reviewing on the other, I'm trying to get rid of paper books rather than accruing more, etc.), but if someone has a religious objection to Kindle or something, they're covered.

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