Andrew Yang's Stunt
Andrew Yang has been my favorite Democrat to watch this election cycle, partly because he’s the candidate I would most like to be friends with. That’s why I was so disappointed to see him resort to a stunt during last week’s debate.
Instead of talking about why automation is a serious problem that will require instituting a Universal Basic Income (UBI), Yang chose to turn his opening debate statement into a raffle where 10 families can sign up to have a chance to win $1,000 a month for a year.
By turning his big idea into a sort of game, Yang didn’t just skip over the seriousness of a looming automation dystopia—he actually trivialized it.
So why would an obviously smart entrepreneur squander the best chance he might ever have to make his substantive argument to a large TV audience? According to Politico, the idea helped Yang “raise $1 million in the 72 hours since the debate and collect more than 450,000 email addresses from people who entered the online raffle…”
Once you view the idea through the prism of list acquisition, rather than traditional message delivery, you begin to see the method to the madness.
This, of course, raises legal questions. FEC experts seem to see this as problematic and dubious, though there is a general sense that nothing will be done to stop it.
It also raises practical questions: If Yang gets away with it, won’t everyone else try it, too?
If the next debate turns into a four-hour long lottery advertisement, you’ll know who to thank.
Click here to listen to my conversation with Andrew Yang from August.
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