Forward to Slavery
The Forward Party (founded by Andrew Yang) is a "neoliberal incubus." While the party itself explicitly tries to avoid traditional ideological labels, the Forward Party seeks to replace democratic give and take about law and policy with technocratic dictatorship over the organization of our society, of our economics and of our politics.
Here is a breakdown of how the party aligns with neoliberal thought.
The Case for "Neoliberal"
The Forward Party through a neoliberal lens focuses on technocracy and market-based solutions.
Human-Centered Capitalism: While Yang advocates for a Universal Basic Income (UBI), he frames it as a way to "floor" the market rather than replace it. This is often seen as a neoliberal replacement to social safety nets—using cash transfers to maintain consumer participation in a capitalist system. This makes recipients of UBI into dependents of the state. Ultimately, given Neoliberalism’s rating of people as useful or productive versus unproductive, this gives the state the power to cut off from UBI those people it sees as unproductive, and, given the Forward Party’s destruction of all safety net provisions, these people would be effectively disposable by the state.
Emphasis on Efficiency: The party’s platform often prioritizes "making government work" through better management and data rather than through radical structural shifts in wealth distribution or ownership. The Forward Party advocates the replacement of democratic governing with technocratic dictatorship in the name of “efficiency.” Thus, whatever is deemed inefficient is destroyed.
Pro-Market Leanings: Neoliberalism generally favors deregulation and free trade. While Forward is less vocal on trade, its focus on "innovation" and "entrepreneurship" mirrors the neoliberal belief that private-sector growth is the primary engine of societal progress.
Institutional Reform: The Forward Pary argues that its core mission is not economic policy, but structural electoral reform. They advocate for ranked-choice voting and open primaries to break the "duopoly." Forward seeks to change the "rules of the game." The problem is that the Forward Party, as does its parent Neoliberalism, holds that the realm of politics must be narrowed to the few things that it cannot “rationalize” through technology and the marketplace. The Forward Party holds that it has overcome the market-vs-state debate. But the Forward Party’s solution to this debate is to remove virtually all power from the state and put it into the hands of the marketplace. Increasingly large portions of the state will be marketized and rationalized – no public schools, no public post office, no Social Security, no Medicare.
Thus, the Forward Party will privatize everything it can and remove nearly everything from public democratic control and put everything into the hands of technocrats who they believe know better than the people of the United States by what and how we should be governed.
What about "Incubus"?
The Forward party is a parasitic force—something that sits upon a body politic, draining its energy or preventing its natural growth.
The Forward Party is an "incubus" as it siphons off energy from genuine grassroots movements (like labor unions, political parties or democratic control of society) and redirects it into "enlightened centrist” reforms that promote technocratic, AI generated transformation of society.
Economics of Forward Party:
Supports market-based solutions to everything in society
Advocates for UBI as replacement for social justice programs
Governance
Focuses on technocratic efficiency and expert management.
Rank Choice Voting “solves everything” and destroys political parties, thereby weakening anything that could stand against the total takeover of society by technocratic entities.
Ideology
Seeks to maintain globalist, corporate-friendly status quo.
Claims to be "post-ideological,” while pushing technocratic, AI transformation of society
Ultimately, if you define neoliberalism as "the use of market mechanisms to solve social problems while maintaining the capitalist structure," the Forward Party fits that description.
What is Neoliberalism?
Neoliberalism is a political and economic philosophy centered on the belief that free-market capitalism is the most efficient way to organize society. It advocates for shifting economic control from the government to the private sector by reducing state intervention in the economy.
Core Pillars of Neoliberalism
The Neoliberal ideology is typically defined by these key policies:
Deregulation: Removing government rules that restrict business activities to foster competition.
Privatization: Transferring state-owned industries (like utilities, transportation, pensions, schools, post office, Medicare, Social Security) to private ownership.
Austerity: Cutting government spending on public services and social safety net services to reduce budget deficits.
Free Trade: Lowering barriers like tariffs to encourage global commerce and capital movement
While its roots trace back to early 20th-century thinkers like Friedrich Hayek, neoliberalism became the dominant global economic model in the late 1970s and 1980s. It is most famously associated with:
Margaret Thatcher (UK Prime Minister)
Ronald Reagan (US President)
The Washington Consensus: A set of standard policy prescriptions for developing countries promoted by institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF and the World Bank
Supporters argue that these policies increase economic efficiency, stimulate innovation, and lead to overall wealth creation.
Critics contend that neoliberalism increases wealth inequality, erodes public services, and leads to financial instability.
David Horsey for the Seattle Times:
The founders of the Forward Party created a new political party with the absence of any coherent message and platform.
People in the center need ideas to unite behind that are more specific than "the extremes are bad." The real work of democracy takes place before anyone votes on anything: it's the work of collaborating and negotiating with each other to figure out the best options for society that we can all support, so that those options are available to vote for at all. There are ideas that not only don't alienate one side or the other, but are better than what anyone had in mind. We can only hold politicians accountable when we aren't afraid to replace them, when we actually have a good alternative ready to go.
We need to be able to help people identify the values at stake in a disagreement, as well as constructive paths forward that make the situation better for everyone. People are much more willing to get involved when they see how it's possible to build on common ground.
When people learn to do the work of democracy by figuring out constructive solutions together, it will shift power back to the people, and some people in the government and other institutions may resist that shift. There are a few approaches we might have to take simultaneously in order to deal with them, from showing them that the new paradigm doesn't trap them in poverty, to addressing their insecurities and assumptions about social status, to draining their leverage, to civil disobedience, if it comes to it.
Right now most of their power comes from controlling how conversations are framed. Once they lose that, they can leave quietly or they can choose to play a more dangerous game, but one I believe they would still lose.
Andrew Yang is frequently described as a technocrat. Political commentators and analysts often characterize him as a "technocratic populist," blending a background in technology and a heavy emphasis on data-driven, expert-led solutions with populist rhetoric that criticizes traditional politicians and distant political elites.
Yang rose to national prominence during his 2020 presidential run by emphasizing policies designed to manage the societal impacts of artificial intelligence and automation. His campaigns heavily prioritized data-driven solutions, earning descriptions from outlets like Reuters as having a "technocratic approach". Key aspects of his philosophy include:
Expertise over Ideology: His policies often focus on pragmatic, efficiency-focused solutions rather than strict left-or-right partisan doctrines, encapsulated by his campaign slogan, "Not Left, Not Right, Forward".
Automation and AI: He has built his platform on the belief that rapid technological advancement requires modern, data-backed policy frameworks—such as Universal Basic Income—to support displaced workers.
Data-Driven Evaluation: He frequently champions the idea of moving beyond traditional economic indicators (like GDP) to measure societal well-being and mental health through concrete metrics.
While he supports utilizing technology to govern, he is also known for directly criticizing the unregulated practices of major tech conglomerates, earning him a complex, dual reputation in Silicon Valley.
