Kanye 2020

Kanye 2020? I doubt I'd ever go that far but I am curious about Kanye's political stances and ideologies. I don’t know if anyone's true philosophies and ideologies are something other people can fully grasp but let's try to dissect Kanye a bit here. This will no doubt be tough since Kanye is such a complicated person but here we go: 

Kanye really is a man of the people. One time he said, “Because I was 14 and middle class. I know what it felt like to not get what I have. People say to me ‘You’re successful, what are you crying about?’. I’m crying about the people. I’m crying about their daughters. Our daughters, as one family. What good is it? What good is anything that everyone can’t have? Every ism. They think we’re done with racism. What about elitism, what about separatism, what about classism? That’s all.” 

Let's start with Kanye and politics. Personally, I think trying to figure out Kanye's political stance is worse than doing advanced calculus. Kanye is a pretty vocal dude but he switches up a lot and doesn't always make sense. Shortly after declaring that he would run for president in 2020, he announced that he did not vote. However, if he had voted he would've opted for Donald Trump. I'm not here to judge but Mr. West did donate about $2,700 to Hillary Clinton in 2015. In addition to that, he donated $1,000 to Obama in 2015 and $15,000 was given to the Democratic National Committee just before midterm elections. Is he a democrat? Sort of. It's complicated. Don't worry about it. It is pretty clear that Kanye won't be labeling what political party he belongs to. We do know that Mr. West believes in bipartisan cooperation. Cooperation across party lines is certainly something Washington, DC needs to see more of.  

Race is a major theme for Kanye in both his statements and his lyrics. We see the race issue in just about all of his music. Kanye has a unique stance on racism. Kanye has said a few times that he wants black people to stop focusing on racism several times. It isn't that Kanye doesn’t think racism exists; in fact, Kanye believes that the United States is very much so a racist country. At one of his show's Kanye stated, "This world is racist, OK? Let's stop being distracted to focus on that as much. It's a f****ing fact. We are in a racist country." Needless to say, that didn't go over well. Mr. West does believe that the Confederate Flag is a symbol of racism. However, instead of advocating for the removal of it, Kanye handled it his way. He has been seen wearing it. Mr. West explained, I took the Confederate flag and made it my flag. It's my flag now, now whatchu gonna do?" Classic move. Kanye has always been vocal about racism. Back in 2005, a video of West saying, "George Bush does not care about Kanye" went viral (is that what they called it back then??). Either way, Kanye has a platform and he's certainly used it to talk about racism in the United States.  

Honestly, we even have evidence about how Mr. West feels about tax reform. Back in 2012 (Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama election), West rapped, "“I be all up in Goldman Sachs like these n—– trying to hold me back, these n—– trying to hold me back, I’m just trying to protect my stacks, Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax, Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax.” In fact, Kanye West has even released outlines of his proposed tax plan. West plans to stimulate middle class growth. He wants to cut taxes for those in the lower tax bracket and raise tax rates for those with an annual income of over $1 million. Some other points are:  

• Increase the personal exemption to $12,000.  
• Increase the Earned Income Tax Credit.  
• The creation of a new, 40% bracket for all individuals earning over $1 million and a $45% bracket for individuals earning over $1.5 million.  
• Taxing carried interest as ordinary income.  
• Extensive tax breaks for the fashion industry.  
• The creation of the Dream tax credit (where anyone who has a dream can get a tax credit of up to $50,000).  
• Refundable tax credits of up to $100,000 for Maybachs and Bentleys.  
• A 100% excise tax on sweaters costing over $5000. 

Included, were also some proposals for business tax reform.  

• Ending the deferral of corporate income from foreign subsidiaries.  
• Enacting a 0.025% financial financial transaction tax on high frequency trading. 
• Tax credits for firms that specialize in producing "dope, uh, stuff." 
• Allow corporations to deduct donations to heavily indebted rappers, up to $53 million.  
• Making it easier to attain tax-exempt status if you can prove that you are a god. 

I found Kanye's tax plan on Taxfoundation.org. Honestly, no clue if its satirical or not but do we ever know when it comes to Kanye are we ever really sure if he's being serious or not?  

Moving forward, Kanye has always stood firmly in his advocacy for LGBQT Rights. According to some sources, Kanye stood up for gay people before it was cool to stand up for gay people. Apparently, when Kanye heard comments made against the gay community he would say, "Yo, stop it, fam." He certainly supported Caitlyn Jenner through her transition. After publicly supporting Trump, Kanye stated, "don't mean I don't believe in gay marriage." Okay, so he may not be the most eloquent speaker but he has an opinion and he voices it. I can definitely respect that.  

Kanye already has made moves for improving education (crazy, right?). West founded the Donda West Foundation (after his mom). The Donda West Foundation ceased operations in 2011 but it intended to aid low graduation rates, illiteracy and help low-income students to music education programs. It's funny because Kanye has made it abundantly clear that he does not read. "I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book's autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books," explains West. You may not like Kanye or understand why anyone would hate books but you have to appreciate how brutally honest the man is.  

We have tons of evidence on where Kanye stands on issues like income inequality, public health, foreign policy, prison reform, etc. I find it hilarious how he's simultaneously the closest and furthest thing from being a legitimate politician. Anyways, there's so much more to someone's ideology than their politcal stances and beliefs in how to run the system.  

Kanye has also spoken out about religion. West has referred to himself as a Christian. Back in 2008, he said, "I will say that I'm spiritual. I have accepted Jesus as my Savior. And I will say that I fall short every day." In typical Kanye fashion, he's gone back on this a few times. One thing he's held steadfast in is that he's one of god's vessels and occasionally makes it known that Kanye himself is godly and a chosen one (whatever you say, Kanye).  

Kanye may very well be one of my favorite philosophers of all time. Okay, so he may not exactly be a philosopher but who's to determine who can and can't be a philosopher. He's just totally misunderstood. Kanye has a weird wisdom to him, he's a conceptual engineer, and he questions societal norms. His unique philosophies and ideologies give his music a unique depth to it.