New York entrepreneur Andrew Yang qualified for the first Democratic presidential debate after clearing 65,000 individual donors, Yang announced Monday night.
Democratic candidates can qualify for debates by either reaching the 65,000 donor mark, or by polling over one percent in three polls leading up to the June debate.
We did it!!!! THANK YOU everyone who supported us to make it happen!!! First stop debates next stop White House!!! pic.twitter.com/i5XXkotffH
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYangVFA) March 12, 2019
Yang is campaigning on a series of radical proposals, including offering every person a $12,000 universal basic income (UBI) in the form of a $1,000 monthly cash payment, which Yang calls a “freedom dividend.” (RELATED: Eric Holder Says Next Democratic President Should Consider Packing Supreme Court)
WATCH:
Some confuse Universal Basic Income with socialism. Socialism is when you nationalize the means of production. UBI is capitalism where income does not start at zero. Rather than spend tax income on bureaucracy it is given directly to people. pic.twitter.com/Hw1fNI4hNj
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYangVFA) February 14, 2019
Yang has consistently stoked fear about automation, and predicts that driverless trucks will lead to “mass riots” and an “outbreak of violence” from unemployed truckers.
Entrepreneur and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang speaks during a campaign stop at the train depot on February 1, 2019 in Jefferson, Iowa. (JOSHUA LOTT/AFP/Getty Images)
“There’s going to be a lot of passion, a lot of resistance to this. Anyone who thinks truck drivers are just going to shrug and say, ‘Alright, I had a good run. I’ll just go home and figure it out’ — that’s not going to be their response,” Yang said in a February interview with podcast host Joe Rogan.
“It’s going to be much more likely that they say, ‘You need to make these trucks illegal,’ or they’re just gonna park their trucks across the highway, get their guns out, because a lot of these guys are ex-military, and just be like, ‘Hey, I’m not going to move my truck until I get my job back,’ and there are going to be a lot of truckers in the same situation,” Yang said.
Yang also wants to implement a system in which a government-run mobile app would track and reward Americans with “digital social credits” for good behavior.
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