By Douglas Daugherty

“A UBI is not a salve for a world of technological unemployment, or a powerful anti-poverty measure, or a form of social dividend, or a way to boost the earnings of the working poor. Rather, it is all those things and more: a paradigmatic shift that would free people from having to do more work that they did not want to do at all. A UBI would, in essence, lop off the bottom of the psychologist Abraham Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs’, where air, food, water, and shelter reside, with self-transcendence up at the other end. A UBI would give people the economic bandwidth to do what they wanted with their lives… Let the robots do the dirty work. Let the people do what they want.” ―Annie Lowrey, Give People Money: The Simple Idea to Solve Inequality and Revolutionize Our Lives

This quote reads like something from the 1933 account by James Hilton of Shangri-La from the book Lost Horizon.

Sound far-fetched? Not at all. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party has embraced it like a hurting puppy. 54% of American adults oppose the idea, according to Pew Research. 45% favor $1000.00 a month, no questions asked, spend it as you please. 87% of conservative Republicans oppose it. 75% of liberal Democrats support it.

Well, what is a UBI? Universal basic income (UBI) is a government-guaranteed payment that each citizen receives. It is also called a citizen’s income, guaranteed minimum income, or basic income. The intention behind the payment is to provide enough to cover the basic cost of living and establish a sense of financial security for everyone.

Last week, Los Angeles approved $1,000.00 a month for 3,000 families with an income less than the poverty level of $26,500.00 and have financial or medical hardships related to COVID. Two weeks ago, the Chicago City Council approved another UBI. To be clear, the Chicago plan is limited to a test group of 5,000 low-income households, who earn less than $35,000.00 a year, and is limited to $500.00 a month. A similar program passed in Stockton, Saint Paul, Oakland, Richmond, and Compton, California.

But the idea is gaining momentum. More than 50 Democratic mayors have joined the coalition of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.

(Interestingly, Chicago’s $32 million pilot is being funded out of $2 billion in COVID relief tax dollars allocated to Chicago through the Biden American Rescue Plan.)

In any case, a lot of people believe that some sort of Universal Basic Income is a good idea and are pushing it. (Biden was against it in the 2019-2020 Democratic primaries.)

Biden wants to be remembered as an FDR “New Deal” President or a Lyndon Johnson “War on Poverty” President. Their motives were one thing, their outcomes another. The $3.2 trillion “American Rescue Plan” has not only Republicans opposed, but many in his own party picking it apart. Some want more, some want less, some want to carve it into pieces and serve only part of the taxpayer funded cornucopia. And he has to have it done in 15 months before a likely House takeover by Republicans.

There is a big fat verbal sleight-of-hand that smacks you in the face. $1,000.00 a month DOES NOT come close to a guaranteed income or the goal of the UBI. Why not? Even big cities know it would break the bank. Median family income in LA is $68,044.00. Chicago median income is $95,110.00. Somebody’s blowing smoke.

But is it a good idea? And not because it will break the bank, but because of what it does to the dignity and to the self-respect of the ones being helped.

“I hear therefore with joy whatever is beginning to be said of the dignity and necessity of labor to every citizen. There is virtue yet in the hoe and the spade, for learned as well as for unlearned hands. And labor is everywhere welcome; always we are invited to work; only be this limitation observed that a man shall not for the sake of wider activity sacrifice any opinion to the popular judgments and modes of action.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Work or labor is not evil. Being productive and earning your own way is good. No one should have permanent ambitions to stay in a minimum wage job. That’s for beginners getting a start.

(There is, to be fair, a moral magnetism to “helping the poor” that politicians and individuals of any persuasion find hard to resist. It IS GOOD to help the poor! But the calculus for that is complex, and in my mind should be heavily weighted towards individual generosity, non-profits, and the Church. Johnson declared a “War on Poverty” that was recently reviewed by Amity Shlaes in her book “Great Society.” It failed and led to a host of both greater social and economic/fiscal problems.)

One used to hear in middle class America an aphorism: “I am worth something because I earned it.” What is the “worth” they earned? There is a connection between achievement and feelings of accomplishment, which gives you pride and increased self-confidence. Pride and confidence allow you to move independently towards the image you have of success for yourself and the ambition you have for the future. The vision becomes successively closer. On the way you learn how to successfully or unsuccessfully navigate the complexity of the many types and layers of relationships. Plus, you learn things about thrift, delayed gratification, and a growing satisfaction with patiently waiting for your goals.

The guaranteed income plan of Democrats will embalm your dreams.

I learned a great lesson raising six children. We wanted them all to go to college and learn to use their gifts well. I paid for their cars and trucks, tuition, room-and-board and gave them a $100.00 a week allowance, figuring they would get a part-time job for their other wants. Much to my surprise, they didn’t or didn’t often get a part-time job. They learned to live off $100.00 a week. My Dad had given me the same type of deal. But I got a string of part time jobs during college so I could get an apartment and be more independent. In the end, the kids all turned into hard workers, moving up an economic ladder. But that lesson I never forgot. And to one, as they did get jobs and began to make money and be praised for their work, their confidence and self-esteem all skyrocketed.

Where do the dreams for our future come from? Well, in my mind, it has part to do with your gifts, part to do with inspiration and part to do with watching life go marching by. Every child has a dream. It usually takes hard work and discipline to reach those dreams. Few, very few hit the lottery, and 70% are bankrupt in five years, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education. (Did you know that 80% of today’s American millionaires are first generation?) And sometimes we have to find another dream. The blind person may become a sculptor. It happens. We’re adaptive. Life can be that way.

I wrote recently about groups who made up the Democratic party base in the last presidential election. One big group was Hispanics or LatinX. I have watched them and worked with them as they have moved into our community over the last 20 years. It is amazing. The last census has this group of people South of Texas, accounting, according to the 2020 census, for 9.1% of the Hamilton County population, some nearly 27,000 people. I don’t believe they will remain Democrats. Their dreams are too big. Any construction job you go to you will see Latinos at work, or Latino contractors with whole crews and pick-up trucks they bought with cash. Their co-workers testify that they never stop. The same is true of the lawn business. Or what about Latino restaurants? They are ubiquitous. Is this a soporific bunch? No. They work. They save. They can taste the American dream. They are capitalist. My bet is that their pocketbooks will pull them into the Republican mainstream in 15 years.

Here’s a question. Does a fat person lose weight without discipline? Not often unless they’re sick. Do fat people with discipline lose weight? All the time.

In the same way as we apply ourselves to the work opportunities we have been given and comfort ourselves well and do a good job, if the workplace is solvent and healthy, you will increase, not only in net worth but in self-esteem. They go together. They are inseparable twins.

Limited government increases virtue, motivates productive work, and offers necessary dignity to the human soul.

You can always throw money at a problem-until you run out-but you can’t easily fix a punctured balloon or get an indolent person moving.