Andrew Yang

Another View contributor

The American Dream is dying by the numbers.

I’ve seen it in Iowa, where farm bankruptcies have gone up 71% since 2018. Where your water supplies are contaminated. Where opioid deaths have more than tripled since 2005. Where more than one in seven of your children live in poverty, while the state is short 359,000 child care spaces. Where over 55% of your kids leave the state for new opportunities.

I’ve seen it across the country, where 78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck while 57% can’t afford an unexpected $500 bill.

By the numbers, the economy is not working for us. It’s working for the 91 Fortune 500 companies that paid $0 in federal taxes. It’s working for pharmaceutical companies who rely on taxpayers to fund their research, only to massively overcharge those same taxpayers. It’s working for oil and coal companies, who demand tens of billions of dollars in government subsidies while poisoning our air and water. Most of all, it’s working for politicians in Washington, D.C., who sold out the American people for campaign donations and lobbyist cash.

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We need to rewrite the rules of the 21st-century economy so it works for us, the American people. It’s time we take the power back, and rewrite the rules to put people over profits.

These problems are big, and they require powerful, ambitious solutions. It’s not going to be easy to take on the special interests and rewrite the rules to work for us. But we know one place to start.

First, we have to rewrite our tax code so that big corporations pay their fair share in taxes.

Then, we need to rewrite the rules so that this money is reinvested in us, the American people. The Freedom Dividend will put $1,000 a month directly in the hands of every American adult over 18, no questions asked. This will reduce poverty, create millions of jobs, recognize the work of stay-at-home parents and caregivers, get the economic boot off people’s necks, and provide a floor upon which to build their lives.

The Freedom Dividend would invest $29 billion in Iowa communities every year. To Kyle Christensen of Iowa City, the Freedom Dividend has allowed him to care for his ailing mother and purchase a new guitar to play shows in his community. For Anna Morgan-Pope, it means not worrying about how to pay for holiday gifts. For Sheryl Mays, it means helping her grow her small business. For Lamia Msadek, it means a little extra support for herself and her parents.

It’s also time to rewrite our environmental rules to establish clean drinking water as a right and pass a constitutional amendment on climate change.

We can rewrite the rules to fight the pharmaceutical companies who created the opioid epidemic and make sure that the high school student I met in Des Moines has access to a treatment center instead of a jail cell.

And we can rewrite the rules to guarantee paid family leave so parents can take care of their kids, and these kids can one day do the same for their parents. We can provide universal pre-K so the couple I met in Dubuque can start their business without worrying about child care costs.

This is the future I want for my kids. A future where humanity comes first.

I’m an entrepreneur and a problem solver. I’m not a politician. I never fantasized about becoming president. I’m running because I’m a parent and a patriot. I see the country we will leave to our children, and it isn’t something I am willing to accept.

If the future is going to change, it will start in Iowa. This is your power and yours alone.

The first time I came to Iowa, I was blown away by its people. My wife was too. You all are smart and good. History has given you the power to shape our country for a reason.

On Feb. 3 the hopes of the country — and the world — will turn to you.

If the rules of the 21st-century economy aren’t working for you, they aren’t working.

Let’s change them.

Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur from New York, is a Democratic candidate for president.

To readers

Major candidates for president were invited to submit an op ed column to the Register ahead of the Feb. 3 caucuses. Eleven current Democratic candidates accepted the invitation, and their columns will appear through Jan. 15, in an order determined by drawing.