Why I switched my support here, not that it matters, from Warren to Yang.

[NNadir]

I love Elizabeth Warren, because my feeling is that she has a flexible mind; if nothing else this will be a critical feature that a future President must have if we are to save anything from this unnatural disaster represented by the ignorant pig in the White House.

She also has a real chance to be the nominee, and if she is, I will be thrilled to vote for her.

Nevertheless, my sons prevailed on me to take a look at Andrew Yang, and to the extent I have time to engage in politics, I did so.

What I think doesn't matter, actually. I am not that politically engaged and to the extent I am, I'm strictly "anyone but Bernie" in the Primaries, and, in the general election, well I'm in agreement with that bumper sticker that reads "Any Functioning Adult, 2020."

If the "functioning adult" is Bernie - I don't think it will be - I'll have to bite the side of my cheek hard and pull the lever for him.

The nominee will not be Andrew Yang either. This is OK and supporting him in consistent with my personal history over a long lifetime of voting. As far as I can recall, I have never supported a candidate in the primary season who won the nomination, so Senator Warren should be glad to be rid of me, if one believes in Karma. In fact, I have never supported a candidate in the Primary season who came close to winning the nomination, except in 2008, when I supported Ms. Clinton.

Bill Richardson, Fred Harris, so and so and so and so, all more or less forgotten, garnered my early attention and support, usually based on their ideas.

So why Yang?

1) His idea about the place of technology. We may have forgotten this, but the benefits rapid growth in labor productivity in the early and mid 20th century were distributed. Workers experienced a work week that contracted to 40 hours; health benefits, vacation time, and access to good schools and safe homes. Yang is the only candidate who seems to understand this, and his value is raising this point in the campaign; it is in fact, a perspicacious point, and - although it dates from the 20th century - in this time constitutes a real and rare, "new idea." This idea needs attention. It is critical in the coming age of AI and robotics.

2) His ideas about climate change will actually work, inasmuch as he supports nuclear power. Ms Warren's stated ideas, which are anti-nuclear will not work, and are in fact dangerous. I note however, that Obama's 2008 energy ideas, involving coal based Fischer Tropsch chemistry, a key stone of Jimmy Carter's energy program in the 1970's would not have not worked; they would have been a disaster. Fortunately President Obama was very different than Democratic Primary Candidate Barack Obama. He actually hired a first rate, world class scientist as his secretary of energy.

Yang's support of nuclear power is involved with the somewhat fashionable thorium/U-233 fuel cycle, but it's OK. The worst nuclear technology is still superior to the best dangerous fossil fuel technology.

3) Mr. Yang is not in my generation, the Baby Boomer generation, which has been the least great generation since that of the antebellum generation preceding the American Civil War. In some ways that awful freak in the White House is an avatar of my generation. Yes, we had good and great people, and some accomplishments, but our post-World War II consumer mentality has been a disaster for our country and for our planet.

4) Yang has no chance of winning the nomination. I need to be consistent. My support for a candidate will have no bearing on the outcome. I live in New Jersey. Before we have a primary, the candidate will be more or less decided.

That about sums it up in a nutshell.

Have a nice weekend.

[Ohiogal]

1. I like a lot of Yang's ideas, too.

What would you think of a Warren/Yang ticket?

[NNadir]

2. I'd be in heaven. It's a ticket that could do great good for our badly wounded country...

...and or wounded planet.

[redqueen]

5. I would love that ticket.

I wanted Warren to run before, and was ready to support her then. My only real issue with her now policy wise is her stance so far on automation, would want her to come around to Yang's point of view.

[Sherman A1]

3. I'm with Yang

And I wouldn’t rule him out as a nominee or winner in the general election.

[redqueen]

4. Have always respected your analytical mind

and I'm happy to see this, irrespective of the outcome of the primaries.

Enjoy your weekend and tell your kids YangGang says thank you

[NNadir]

7. Thank you for your kind words. My sons have been after me some time...

...on this point of supporting Yang, particularly my older son.

Both of them have minds that easily dwarf mine in terms of raw intellectual power. I may be better educated and experienced, but I have to struggle to think deeply, whereas it is effortless for them; so what they say matters to me.

Like I said, it really doesn't matter since the nominee will have been decided before primaries come to New Jersey, but overall, I believe Yang brings to the campaign a fresh perspective, which I value highly. I have thought some of these things long before he came on the scene.

No candidate is, of course, perfect, but I really like the post here in recent days that claimed that all of the negative points raised here and elsewhere about Democratic candidates, charges of befuddlement, of being "too old," political or economic extremity, even of being a racist, are absurd when the awful creature in the White House embodies all these worst features on a scale that is shocking and in fact, terrifying.

Have a nice weekend.

[Normanart]

6. I also changed from Warren to Yang

My initial choice was predicated on political considerations, and I like Warren. After some research of the policies proposed by Yang, I feel he has a better understanding of the issues of the immediate future. Hence the shift. We may all have ideas about the future, but no one knows what will happen. Yang may be our next president. After all, tRump...

[NNadir]

8. Good point. I don't think lightening will strike the campaign again...

...as it did in the last election, completely frying and burning any shred of decency in this country, and any posturing about patriotism.

The Republican party has sold the country for 40 pieces of fake silver.

The last time lightening struck this country for good after a disastrous Presidency, was when Abraham Lincoln was elected. If you'd asked 100 people in 1859 who their next President would be, few, if any, would say Lincoln.

I have to believe if this country is to be restored to health, we will need another Lincoln. It may be that some, maybe many, of our Democratic candidates may have the "right stuff."

After all, the ability to be great on the level of Lincoln or FDR was as much a function of their times as of their personal attributes.

My hope is that whoever our nominee is, will rise to that kind of level, since we are experiencing a political disaster on a scale not seen since the American Civil War.