FORWARD

by Andrew Yang

The Forward Party has six key principles: Ranked-Choice Voting and Open Primaries. Party primaries disenfranchise the majority of voters. In 80 percent of cases the general election is essentially a foreordained conclusion. Non-major-party candidates are regarded as a “waste” of a vote and can never compete. Candidates spend millions trashing their lone opponent, making us all more cynical. Ranked-choice voting better captures voters’ true preferences and enables a more dynamic and truly representative democracy while addressing all of these problems. It is the key to unlocking real reform. Fact-Based Governance. Politicians today compete in messaging and news cycles. They should compete on results. The only way to know how you are doing is if you agree on facts and if all parties can agree on one version of reality. We should be very concerned about political leaders who don’t accept that measurements of social and economic health have weight and that science is real. Spin must have its limits. Parties can differ on what goals they would most like to pursue, but we need to share a baseline of where we are and how we are doing. Human-Centered Capitalism. We measure our economic health based on GDP, stock market prices, and headline unemployment rates. Meanwhile, life expectancy is declining, deaths of despair are surging, and millions of Americans are getting pushed aside. Our economic system should be geared to benefit us, with life expectancy, average income and affordab...