Andrew Yang ’92 Runs for President 2020
Artificial intelligence, robots and software: symbols of the technological age and, according to alumnus Andrew Yang ’92, a threat to America’s jobs. During assembly on Friday, Feb. 8, Yang explained his campaign for the 2020 Presidency, stating his priority of implementing a $1,000 universal income.
Born in 1975 to Taiwanese parents, Andrew Yang grew up in Schenectady, New York as a first generation Asian-American child influenced by the American Dream. After graduating from Exeter, then Brown University, he pursued a variety of varying career options—corporate law, healthcare and, finally, business.
These interests and experiences culminated in 2017, when Yang launched his presidential campaign. After working primarily as an entrepreneur in the professional world, Yang became discontent with the political and socioeconomic realities around him. “Problems such as gerrymandering and fragmented media have caused Americans’ lost faith in the government,” he said. “Depression, financial insecurity, suicides and overdoses are all at record highs or near-record highs, and getting married, having kids, starting a business and moving for a new job are at record lows.”
Tired of waiting for other politicians to take action, Yang decided to run for president and counteract growing divides. “For whatever reason, our political establishment is unable to even acknowledge the scope of the problem, much less even address it,” he said. “That is why I’m running for president.”
Returning to Exeter for the first time since graduation, Yang reflected on his past at the Academy and his ongoing presidential campaign. “I was not the kid that anyone thought would end up running for president,” he said. “The takeaway I want people to have is that hard work is worth it. You can wind up in a very different place that will allow you to live the kind of life that you want to live.”
Although winning the 2020 presidency will require a much hard work and communication, Yang is confident that his presidency would be a step in the right direction for society’s advancement. “For most Americans, I’m still the Asian guy who wants to give everyone a thousand dollars a month,” he said. “The challenge really is for people to really get exposed to what is the campaign and see why this is vital to help progress as a society.”
Bryce Morales, a senior and cohead of Exeter’s Democratic Club (Dem Club), described the differing opinions Dem Club members had about Yang’s platform. “Some people really liked his plan, but others questioned [its] feasibility,” Morales said. “Some are just morally opposed to this idea of universal basic income.”
Other members of the Exeter community echoed Dem Club’s consensus and focused on other aspects of Yang’s campaign, including Yang himself. Although lower Nahla Owens felt that Yang’s ideas were good in theory, she questioned how successful Yang would be in an actual political position. “He does not seem to have background or experience in the political sphere of things,” Owens said. “He has experience businesswise, but I do not think that would necessarily translate to being good in a presidential office, and his plans are not fully thought out.”
Upper Orion Bloomfield, on the other hand, supports Yang’s universal income proposal and views it as a necessary progression for the United States.“I think that his universal basic income idea is a pretty solid step into a future that protects citizens in the technological revolution,” he said.
Morales also favors Yang’s unique ideas. “I thought he brought up a lot of important issues that many traditional politicians are not talking about,” Morales said. “I think we will come to a point where we need to face the facts and look at automation taking our jobs, and how that’s going to shift the job market.”
Other students such as upper Sam Park feel that sentiments opposing innovation are outdated. Park agrees with the notion of minimum basic income, but objects to the way Yang justified his platform. “The argument that innovation/technology will take away people’s jobs has been around since the industrial revolution,” Park said. “If you think about it, what his plan does is allow those tech corporations to further disregard their workers because ‘the government will take care of them.’”
Senior Niko Amber agreed with Yang’s ideas on economics, but felt that he did not highlight other policies to represent his flexibility as a candidate. “We need someone who is comprehensive and is going to talk about issues and not just the state of our economy.”