New York City mayoral front-runner Andrew Yang is the archetype of a new political phenomenon known as the “techno-populist.” The “techno” does not refer to technology (though Yang is a big proponent), but “technocracy,” the belief that elite expertise and a kind of Henry Ford-ian faith in scientific progress can solve all ills of society, unmoored from conventional politics, coalition-building, or movements. More than anything, techno-populists like Yang like to boast about a universal, objective truth beyond the right-left ideological divide. His appeal to those outside the “conventional” Democratic Party electorate should be understood through this lens.
But this faith in a truth beyond politics can turn decidedly anti-intellectual if it fails to update for shifting evidence and the hard realities of balancing multivarious interests. In other words, politics cannot be written out of politics. As Cambridge professor Chris Bickerton explains, “At the heart of politics is the need to make decisions based not only on facts but also on a set of beliefs that provide a framework for action. Stripped of an ideological outlook that contains within it some vision of future society, decision-making dissolves into problem-solving.”
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