In arguing that a universal basic income (UBI) is a matter of societal self interest Judith Shulevitz (Its Payback Time for Women, NYT Sunday Review 1/10/16) is, in effect, shining a spotlight on the defining Republican myth that government is picking the pockets of taxpayers and giving our money to deadbeats.
Democrats need to take on this myth, not just as a matter of decency but as a matter of self interest. It’s a good time to remember Mario Cuomo’s speech to the 1984 Democratic Convention in which he urged America to reject Reagan Darwinism. He closed with;
We Democrats believe in something else. We democrats believe that we can make it all the way with the whole family intact, and we have more than once. Ever since Franklin Roosevelt lifted himself from his wheelchair to lift this nation from its knees — wagon train after wagon train — to new frontiers of education, housing, peace; the whole family aboard, constantly reaching out to extend and enlarge that family; lifting them up into the wagon on the way; blacks and Hispanics, and people of every ethnic group, and native Americans — all those struggling to build their families and claim some small share of America. For nearly 50 years we carried them all to new levels of comfort, and security, and dignity, even affluence. And remember this, some of us in this room today are here only because this nation had that kind of confidence. And it would be wrong to forget that.
