Andrew Yang Praises Justin Amash For Calling Out ‘Polarization And Hyperpartisanship’ In American Politics
Libertarian-leaning politician Justin Amash declared his independence from the Republican Party Thursday in a Washington Post op-ed that blasted the “partisan death spiral” of the current two-party system. Per The Inquisitr, Amash touched on his experience as the son of a Palestinian refugee as well as Founding Father George Washington’s farewell address, in which he warned of the dangers of partisanship and its potential to hold the American political system hostage to political parties.
Not long after Amash’s column, Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang took to Twitter to express his support of the 39-year-old politician.
“Good for @justinamash for sticking to his principles. He’s right that polarization and hyperpartisanship are major problems.”
Yang’s comment drew a mostly positive response, although a few accused him of appealing to both Democrats and Republicans. Others suggested that Yang run as an independent in fear of him being blackballed by the Democratic party much like Bernie Sanders was back in the 2016 presidential race.
But Yang’s platform has always focused on looking past party affiliation, and his slogan is “not left, not right, forward.” His support of Amash is not surprising, as outside of his previous allegiance to the Republican party, Amash was the first Republican politician to support President Donald Trump’s impeachment publicly and has previously been critical of two-party politics.
Rep. Justin Amash is leaving the GOP. ‘Modern politics is trapped in a partisan death spiral,’ he writes in The Post. https://t.co/a6fn3YMFY1
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 4, 2019
“These are consequences of a mind-set among the political class that loyalty to party is more important than serving the American people or protecting our governing institutions,” he wrote in his Washington Post op-ed, adding that both Democrats and Republicans value winning for the sake of winning, no matter the cost.
“Instead of acting as an independent branch of government and serving as a check on the executive branch, congressional leaders of both parties expect the House and Senate to act in obedience or opposition to the president and their colleagues on a partisan basis.”
It makes me really happy to hear that the message "not left or right but forward" is increasingly winning people over. After pushing it for so many years, to see it start to resonate, it's hard to describe the feeling.https://t.co/1dPvPT9q6f @AndrewYang#YangGang #LetYangSpeak pic.twitter.com/xeKmsaRhbZ
— Scott Santens (@scottsantens) July 2, 2019
Per The Inquisitr, Yang recently made headlines when he accepted the bottle cap challenge, which has been making waves across social media thanks to celebrities like Jason Statham, John Mayer, and Ryan Reynolds. The challenge asks participants to loosely screw on a cap to a plastic bottle, place the bottle facing upward on a flat surface, and knock the cap off with a back-spin kick. Yang claims that the video of him completing the challenge is one of his most popular videos ever. Funny enough, Yang misspelled “challenge,” which one user pointed out probably harmed the video’s performance on social media.
