Yang and the gang

While there’s plenty not to like about Andrew Yang’s candidacy for mayor, there’s one reason we’re glad he’s thrown himself into the briar patch. Yang, who fled for his second home in the Hudson Valley during the COVID pandemic, then cluelessly posed this out-of-touch rhetorical question to the New York Times: “Can you imagine trying to have two kids on virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment, and then trying to do work yourself?” He hasn’t shown sufficient interest in local politics and public policy to even cast a vote in the last four mayoral elections. Though he bases his run on his career as an entrepreneur, it’s a checkered record. Oh, and in the spring, when COVID was raging, vain Yang went to court to force the state to run a costly, risky presidential primary — despite the fact that all of Joe Biden’s opponents, himself included, had already quit. Why Yang is a welcome presence is that he just might help transform the mayoral race from a contest over far-left progressive bona fides into a bidding war for the biggest, best policies to get New York off its back. His shrunken-down local version of universal basic income, which animated his presidential run, would be a stream of cash — $2,000 to $5,000 annually — for a half-million very poor New Yorkers. It could spur others to think in ambitious, creative terms. Ditto to the “people’s bank” he says he wants to start, to underwrite economic opportunity for the poor. He’s supported charter schools when the prevailing winds are pushing candidates into the tight embrace of teachers unions. Yang has a steep hill to climb to prove himself a credible candidate, but his presence increases the odds that the crowded mayoral campaign will become a high-profile contest of ideas. Let’s go.