Andrew Yang wants to be the Democrat nominee for President and it is really clear that he’s all in on the idea of “who needs God when you’ve got Government” (aka, bastardizing the Christian Doxology of “Praise God from whom all blessings flow”). This guy from New York is already in on UBI (Universal Basic Income, along with a European style Value Added Tax of 10% to pay for it) where the Government just prints us all a check for about a grand a month because robots are going to be taking our jobs. Yep, crawl onto the dole on the magnificent sum of $12K a year – such a bountiful life that amount would yield (anyone for Serf City?).
But there’s a much more insidious plank he’s running on, this candidate from the People’s Republic of NY and it should give anyone a real pause as to what he believes is The Proper Role of Government. No, it’s not straight outta Compton, but it is directly out of the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance machine / real time “reeducation camp” idea of good governance. I think this line from the American Thinker sets the stage well:
Leftists always insist that their proposals for socialism will be nothing like what’s found in communist hellholes way down the rapids to the falls. But somehow, the opening ideas are always the same.
Like I pointed out here – the Pilgrims already learned their lesson of horrors of socialism in one year after half their population died. But it is always Socialisms that have such a poor grasp of history and an overwhelming sense of their own self-worth and capability such that they always proclaim “but the right people haven’t been in charge yet” – like the hubris of this Andrew Wang. Along with his proposed idea of REALLY taking someone’s private property away to spread out among the masses (taking Obama’s line of “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody” to new heights) simply to make himself feel good about himself (as well as attract the socialist and “gimme, gimme” voters).
But UBI isn’t enough for this Chinese Apparatchik-wanna-be – just like the Chinese Communists that have installed the idea of “social credits” into their country, he wants to do the same here but as always with these incipient totalitarians, they have to give it a “nicer” and less revealing name: Modern Time Banking (Digital Social Credits). So, do we go to some commercial website to sign up for what seems to be yet another private sector “loyalty” program that gives out goodies if you behave the way they incentivize you?
Er, no: Just think, yet another Government program “watching out for and over you” (reformatted, emphasis mine):
Enter Modern Time Banking through Digital Social Credits (DSCs). This alternate currency would be tracked by an app and seeded, initially, by the government. After that, local administrators would oversee the program. You could earn DSCs through:
- Volunteering at a local shelter
- Participating in a town fair
- Coaching little league
- Fixing a neighbor’s appliance
- Working with those recovering from opiate addiction
- Tutoring a local student
and a range of other activities that make your community stronger. We’ve seen the power of these awards systems to drive behavior through online communities, “free sandwich” punch cards, and special status (e.g. Yelp Elite, Foursquare mayors, etc.).
True – but those are VOLUNTARY programs and you can leave whenever you want to. Ask the Chinese citizens that have already been denied travel, banking, and other social “privileges” because of wrongthink and wrongactions? You really think that once started, some jerk-in-the-bureaucracy or some other power craven politician might just want to push that envelope further out one pixel at a time?
But WAIT, look at the kinds of “privileges” you could get!
Each citizen would have a running tally, along with an “unspent” total. As noted above, you could offer DSCs to a neighbor for watering your plants or taking your mail in while you’re away. But there could also be specific promotions where you could trade in your DSCs for special experiences, such as tickets to a local ball game or meeting with a government or civic leader.
Note that “initially, by the government”. Now tell me, with government ALREADY inhabited by the Party of Government, you really think that they’d give up that power?
And look, you could earn credit to. meet. with. your. elected. leadership. Screw that, Wang, I can already walk down the street, knock on their and scream have a polite conversation with them – this IS New Hampsha after all. I don’t need some new cockamamie obstacle put in my way.
Maybe you think this is a great idea (if you’re a total Collectivist or just plain stupid). But let me put it this way – can you imagine the amount of “over watch” that would be required to do this? This would literally make the former Stazi of East Germany swoon with thought of this? Let’s take his example of “goodness”; who or what must I do to “report in” that I’ve done some tutoring, or volunteered in some community action, or helped someone cross the street, or went to the local church pantry (how’s that gonna work, that whole “separation of church and State” deal?). How intrusive (and expensive) would that be? And would that lead into having to report in where ever or what ever I do (the Stazi are beaming even more broadly)?
And how does one become a “local administrator”? What kind of “connections” would be needed? Or would it be the idea of “disposition” that would be the standard (as in “Skip, YOU don’t the disposition to be one” but E. Scott Craycraft (sidenote: a local SJW and avowed socialist) has a button on his chest “Local Administrator!”)? Ya think any Grokster would get any kind of credit for writing here for “our” community?
Naw, we’d get attention but not the kind that good old Socialist Andrew Wang, purveyor of MUCH more Government that is “blessing” us, is talking about. Sure, he follows along in the vein of “hey, it’s GOOD for you!” – but look at it this way: if the Third Wave Feminists are already shrieking about Patriarchy, how’d they like the Bigger Government version of it? I’m quite sure that the Progressive Caucus in Congress as well as the Democrat Socialists of America would contently sigh softly and tell us”Oh, he only wants Government to use ‘carrots'” but how long would it take for some politician to introduce the sticks? For socialists, their history is clear – not long.
No, this is a REALLY bad idea – in fact, a VERY DANGEROUS idea. This is, as the American Thinker piece says, FAR worse that Cass Sustein’s idea of Government “nudging” you to act the way that some believe you should for your own good – this is outright bribery and a taking away of personal agency.
This scheme is just too big and too fraught with implications to put in place. After all, look what one person, Lois Lernher did to the TEA Party movement as a simple (but high level) IRS bureaucrat during Obama’s term as Presidency. She all but cut them off from donations simply because they “thought the wrong way”. And again, how long would it take someone like her, or like the FBI’s McCabe and Stroek, to look at this powerful Shiny Object and turn into the Hobbit’s golum and go “come here, my Preccccciousssss” and wear that Ring to Rule Them All?
The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen
