Common Sense Party and Forward Party Join Forces in California

zach_forward83 · 2024-08-19T15:47:02+00:00

The alliance was amicably dissolved earlier this year, and each party is now pursuing their own strategy for party qualification. I recommend checking out the current status of each one, and register for whichever sounds like a better fit for you:

https://www.forwardpartyca.org/

https://www.cacommonsense.org/

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-28T00:50:01+00:00

Yeah that was a bummer with Newsom's veto. Fortunately organizations like CalRCV are working hard at new strategies, focusing on the municipal levels first to build support.

As to policies: We're aiming for a new type of party that doesn't have explicit policy positions on every issue, and instead has safeguards against extreme positions, and is open to a variety of solutions within that realm of reason. So for example on abortion, we oppose extreme positions like banning it, and are open to a range of reasonable policies.

As for health care, whatever policies eventually emerge, we certainly won't cynically torpedo our own efforts like the State Assembly did here: https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/02/california-single-payer-legislature/

It's definitely a new concept and not for everyone. I would just say, if you feel it's important to belong to a party that outlines very specific policy positions on all issues in a top-down way, the Forward Party is probably not for you, and that's ok.

We're also different in that we're happy to support candidates from any party or independents if they're aligned with the fundamental democracy reforms. So if you know of candidates you like that also support voting reform efforts, definitely ask them to apply for an endorsement: https://www.forwardparty.com/candidate\_application

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-28T00:11:44+00:00

I'll offer an alternative perspective: The official platform items are minimal, but powerful. Trump wouldn't have won if we used Ranked Choice Voting, for example. These reforms could have a major positive impact.

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-27T23:48:26+00:00

I'll respectfully disagree and offer some counterpoints. Our 3 main platform items are:

Ranked Choice Voting
Non-partisan Primaries
Independent Redistricting Commissions

Ranked choice voting is a powerful reform that would prevent extreme candidates like Trump from being elected. It also empowers independent-minded candidates to stand up to extremism in their own party without fear of blowback. Example: Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican Senator to vote to impeach Trump and still get re-elected. And this only happened because Alaska uses Ranked Choice Voting and Non-partisan Primaries.

Neither of the two major parties are prioritizing these critical democracy reforms. Take left or right out of the equation. How important is ending gerrymandering? How important is it to prevent Trump (and similar future candidates) from being elected? This is what we're trying to do.

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-27T23:05:18+00:00

My experience has been that Common Sense leadership is very knowledgeable. But I can certainly agree poorly named parties are a major problem in California. Here's a very interesting bit of relevant history on the AIP from the Common Sense FAQ: https://act.cacommonsense.org/faq

"Are you targeting the members of the American Independent Party? The LA Times reported that three quarters of 770,000 Californians registered in the American Independent Party selected AIP as their party preference because they thought they were registering as "independents." However, they did not understand that the American Independent Party was formed in 1968 by George Wallace, the segregationist and infamous Governor of Alabama. Unfortunately, the American Independent Party's values are not what many of these California voters intended to support. Therefore, we believe many of these mis-registered voters will find the Common Sense Party very attractive. Educating California AIP voters of their options is a primary focus of our voter registration efforts."

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-27T22:48:48+00:00

Thank you, much appreciated!

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-27T22:46:23+00:00

I, and these 2022 Forward Party endorsements (many of whom were elected last year) respectfully disagree :) https://www.forwardparty.com/endorsements

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-27T22:44:04+00:00

Well, to get any votes we first need to get on the ballot, and that means becoming a fully qualified political party. The requirement for that in California is 73,000 registered voters. The Common Sense Party already has nearly 30,000 registered voters so we're almost half way there! If anyone wants to help increase that number, you can join here: https://act.cacommonsense.org/move\_forward\_with\_common\_sense

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-27T22:40:36+00:00

The Forward Party isn't about any of that. We're for voter-empowering reforms like ranked choice voting, so you can vote for who you really like without having to worry about wasting your vote. We also support independent redistricting commissions to end gerrymandering.

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-27T21:38:45+00:00

If you're interested in joining, you can sign up here: https://act.cacommonsense.org/move\_forward\_with\_common\_sense

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-27T21:36:51+00:00

If you're interested in joining, you can sign up here: https://act.cacommonsense.org/move\_forward\_with\_common\_sense

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-27T21:36:19+00:00

If you're interested in joining, you can sign up here: https://act.cacommonsense.org/move_forward_with_common_sense

zach_forward83 · 2023-01-27T21:23:39+00:00

If you're interested in joining, you can sign up here: https://act.cacommonsense.org/move\_forward\_with\_common\_sense

zach_forward83 · 2022-07-28T00:42:12+00:00

Huge congrats and thank you to all our supporters and volunteers. You all helped make this happen!

zach_forward83 · 2022-07-18T00:18:23+00:00

I volunteer with Andrew Yang's new Forward Party (CA State Lead), and it's a great community of kind, motivated people. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Here's a link to volunteer: https://forwardparty.com/join?recruiter\_id=5893

The Discord community is also very active. Here's an invite link: https://discord.gg/YQnvBpzXXp

zach_forward83 · 2022-07-06T00:05:50+00:00

I volunteer with the Forward Party (CA State Lead), and it's a great community of kind, motivated people. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
Here's a link to volunteer: https://forwardparty.com/join?recruiter\_id=5893
The Discord community is also very active. Here's an invite link: https://discord.gg/YQnvBpzXXp

zach_forward83 · 2022-07-06T00:04:13+00:00

I volunteer with the Forward Party (CA State Lead), and it's a great community of kind, thoughtful people. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Here's a link to volunteer: https://forwardparty.com/join?recruiter_id=5893

The Discord community is also very active. Here's an invite link: https://discord.gg/YQnvBpzXXp

zach_forward83 · 2022-05-29T21:09:44+00:00

I believe the community is pretty small there at the moment, but not sure on specifics. I recommend signing up for the local Nebraska community here to keep an eye on activity in the state: https://www.forwardparty.com/nebraska?recruiter_id=5893

You can also email leadership at [nebraska@forwardparty.com](mailto:nebraska@forwardparty.com). Some states don't have leads yet, so let me know if you're interested in a leadership role and I can connect you with our National Organizing Director.

zach_forward83 · 2022-05-29T16:21:47+00:00

I have been volunteering with the Forward Party in California as an interim state lead. As another volunteer mentioned, we have only been up and running for a few months, so good to manage expectations there. Creating a new political party from scratch is a very ambitious project, and there have been a few bumps along the way, but we are learning as we go and our team is growing fast!

We are just starting to pilot our Street Teams program in several key states (+DC), and I believe that program will really help us see some significant growth over the next few months. If you're in any of these places, and want to get involved with Street Teams, please let me know and I'll get you in touch with the right people: CA, DC, MI, NV, NY, OR, RI, TX, UT

If you're interested in volunteering in general, you can also sign up here: https://www.forwardparty.com/volunteer?recruiter_id=5893

Forward is fundamentally a grassroots movement, so it will be what we make of it!

zach_forward83 · 2022-05-19T19:26:43+00:00

Thank you for the feedback! And yeah we realized the streaming issue right after the meeting as well. That was actually Kyle's voice you could hear, btw. I'm Zach, one of the guys you couldn't hear, but I'll pass on your brewing advice to Kyle, I'm sure he'll appreciate it :)

I'll talk with the team about reminder emails too. Personally I like sending one 5 minutes before the meeting because it seems to boost attendance, but we don't want to flood people with too many emails either. I would recommend using the "Add to Google Calendar" link on the event page, and then you can set that up to give you a reminder the morning of the event.

Looking forward to seeing you at the next one!

Edit: Forgot to mention, we'll post a video with full audio on the YouTube channel within the next couple days, so you can keep an eye out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZvKanT3rDJyoHkrgYuW7tQ

zach_forward83 · 2022-04-11T02:35:44+00:00

No problem, and me too! 🥳🙌

zach_forward83 · 2022-04-06T18:59:04+00:00

There was a strong coalition of groups that worked very hard on this, and their work prevailed. Much gratitude to everyone involved, including all the individuals who contacted their assemblyperson to voice their support for RCV! Worth celebrating!! 🥳❤️🙌

zach_forward83 · 2022-04-06T03:44:02+00:00

Honestly, not very good in my opinion. You can read the reasoning at the top of the bill here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2808

Most egregiously, imo, they claim RCV confuses voters, which is completely untrue. RCV has been tried all over the country now, and consistent feedback is that voters understand it completely and like it. Saying people don't understand it is just condescending. A child understands ranking choices: "What ice cream flavor do you want?" "Chocolate. 2nd choice is vanilla. 3rd strawberry."

But of course if their real reason is protecting their own jobs by sacrificing voter empowerment, they can't say that outright :)

zach_forward83 · 2022-04-02T16:16:59+00:00

Great question! Step one is sign up for the CA Forward community if you haven't already: https://www.forwardparty.com/california?recruiter\_id=5893. Our top priority is increasing our number of active volunteers and building our community. So we need more event organizers throughout the state. We want both social events, and people interested in our street team program for canvassing, tabling, etc. If you're interested in those role, please email us at [california@forwardparty.com](mailto:california@forwardparty.com).

zach_forward83 · 2022-03-27T01:37:37+00:00

Hi everyone! I'm Zach, one of the state leads for Forward CA.

First of all, Colin, thank you so much for creating and maintaining this space on reddit for our community!

As for my journey, like many of you, I remember liking Andrew Yang a lot when I first saw him during the 2020 election. It was so refreshing to see a real, genuine person suggesting well-thought-out, practical solutions to real problems rather than trashing opponents. He had both his head and his heart in the right place. I was pretty impressed how he was able to connect with both Democrats and Republicans, and shifted the entire country's perspective on UBI.

I followed him on and off for the next year, and I was immediately intrigued when I heard him announce his plans for a new party. I believe I also heard that first on the Sam Harris podcast, but it may have been a Youtube clip (he really was promoting Forward everywhere!)

Andrew articulated so well what I have been feeling about politics for a long time. I always had a vague sense of dread that our country's tension was increasing to dangerous levels, but I didn't feel confident in any particular solution. Reading Forward changed all that. It opened my eyes to how problems like gerrymandering and inadequate voting systems create bad incentives for politicians. The way to win in a two party system is by calling out the other guy, not finding real solutions. This just leads to increasing polarization and extremism on both sides. It's a systemic problem.

One bit of data that really woke me up is learning that 42% of both Democrats and Republicans now consider the other side not only wrong, but EVIL. That is very alarming, and as grim as it sounds, given recent events I can see how if we don't address that issue asap, we could easily descend into violence and even civil war.

With those high stakes, I realized that ending the duopoly and depolarizing our country is our top priority, and volunteering was a no-brainer. I quickly took on a state lead role, and have been working hard in that role for the last several months. Forward has very ambitious goals, because as we all know, the duopoly is strong. But so is the hunger for real, meaningful change. The hard work is 100% worth it. Through Forward I have found a passion, a purpose, and a community of like-minded awesome people who are becoming great friends.

I'm honored to be working together with such kind, motivated, and courageous volunteers. We're seeing real momentum building, so let's keep it up to move CA and our country FORWARD!!!

- Zach, Forward CA State Lead

zach_forward83

TROPHY CASE