this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2024
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[–] meep_launcher@lemm.ee 72 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (23 children)

So I think a lot of folks don't know the context this comic was written in and how misleading the message is.

This is an attack comic on a recently created 3rd party, the Forward party, created by Andrew Yang. There are several pillars to this party's mission, such as UBI and Campaign finance reform, but the core of the party is the ranked choice vote.

If you aren't familiar with ranked choice vote, Here is a great video explanation , but essentially it gives voters the ability to vote for multiple candidates and removing the entire "voting 3rd party is throwing your vote away" situation. If the forward party is successful to getting this passed in every part of our government, it would fully upend the two party system.

This comic is pointing at Andrew Yangs slogan in his 2020 run for president as well as for the forward party- "not left, not right, forward". What he is trying to do is tap into the discontent found in a majority of Americans. Most voters would like to see choices beyond Dems and the GOP and these voters are all across the political spectrum.

Someone like my father, a former Republican who is disillusioned with the party but is still heavily free market, and myself who believes more in regulation and strong institutions both agree on the issue of RCV because we are in the same boat of feeling like we aren't actually represented in our government.

I'd say this comic is a perfect example of "if you ignore the details of a philosophy and redefine it's rhetoric, you can make it stand for anything you want".

TL;Dr this comic is trying to convince you that the Forward party is the exact opposite of what it really is by ignoring any nuance.

Edit: Here is a video explaining the positions of the forward party. Keep a critical eye while watching it as I'm not trying to sell you on the party, but at least for you to be aware of it's existence.

[–] brianary@startrek.website 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] meep_launcher@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

My comment or the political party?

Andrew Yang is a billionaire which does suck, but if a billionaire is able to help us get RCV I'll take it, but that's just my 2 cents.

As for me I'd love if my comments were being funded by dark astroturfing money. I got credit card debt that I need to pay. Sadly I still need to go to work.

Edit:

Andrew Yang isn't the one guy funding the party- just like any party they are pulling from many sources, I just assumed the comment was trying to get at the fact a billionaire is setting this up. I had a knee jerk reaction to that because I see purity tests as an unproductive way to judge a movement. There should be boundaries sure, but there should also be a degree of pragmatism in how to get things done.

[–] nednobbins@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago

As near as I can tell, he has a lot of money but he's several orders of magnitude away from billionaire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Yang#Net_worth

[–] brianary@startrek.website 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm just worried about another No Labels situation.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

No Labels is another one of these centrist parties with the exact same slogan. Serious, their slogan was "Not Left. Not Right. Forward." This "Forward Party" is practically a carbon copy.

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