You may be asking yourself “what the heck is UBI?”

UBI is also known as Universal Basic Income.

What does this mean? It means that every citizen of a country will get a standard monthly payment from the government of that country, simply for existing. No strings attached.

Some of you may be saying “Say what? Free money?! Girl, you playin.”

No, really. I’m serious.

Click here and here to watch some great videos on UBI.

Some of you may be appalled or disgusted. Free handouts? Great. All the lazy people are never going to work again. How could you give someone something for nothing?

Is it, though? Is it really giving someone something for nothing? Let me tell you why I think otherwise.

For most of my life – that I can remember anyway, I’ve wanted to be a Mom. When I was eight years old, I got it in my head that when I grew up I was going to have three daughters. Now, I have four.

Raising four daughters on a poverty level income is hard. So hard. For those of you doing the same thing, you know exactly how hard.

I just want to talk about the facts. The facts are that I have children and I’m poor.

Children who grow up in poverty do statistically worse in school. They tend to have more emotional issues than children who grow up in wealthier families. They are also shown to be more involved in crime.

“A $4,000 increase in income reduced the poorest kids’ chances of committing a minor crime by 22%.” -Click here to read the article.

Parents living in poverty are working full time hours for part time pay and when they get home they just want to relax and be left alone before they have to deal with the stress of another day.

Other parents may be out of work entirely and are so consumed by the stress that they are constantly irritable or so depressed that they can’t get out of bed.

If you try to tell me that these situations are good for a developing child, you’re either delusional or a liar.

How do these situations make our society better? If you have an answer, please leave it in the comments.

To me, a mother is someone who nurtures, protects, teaches right from wrong and shows her children how to someday care for their own. Our job as parents is to give our children the tools they need to survive.

“You can’t give your children what you don’t have.” -My favorite ponderous quote.

That quote keeps me up at night, for real.

My kids are all on the honor roll at school, we teach them about science and technology at home and read to them. Our children read and play chess. They are lucky they have wealthy grandparents to spoil them. They use sewing machines and telescopes. They collect blood from their scrapes to look at under their microscope.

“Poverty is not a lack of character, it’s a lack of money.”

I do the best I can to be a good Mom but the stress does get to me.

“It’s like a fight or flight feeling every day.” -Click here to read the article.

Exactly. Our bills are always late, we are always scrambling to pay them and we can just barely afford toiletries and household goods.

Every tax return season when we get to pay our bills on time, we marvel at how we were able to make it another year. I love this time of year. It’s the time of year when I can fully relax for a little while.

I have so many ideas that I dream will generate a steady and higher income. Every tax season I try to invest in some business venture I hope will take off. Businesses take time and money to run. Time I have, money I don’t. Eventually the potential of these incomes fizzles out.

What do you think I would do with free money?

I bet some of you think I would sit on my ass and do nothing. I’m sure I would from time to time.

I would also buy more supplies for my craft shop on Etsy so that I could offer more variety of products.

I would renew our zoo membership that my children desperately miss.

I would move to a house in a cleaner, safer area for my girls.

I would save up a down payment so we could actually buy a house.

I would save up to buy a newer, more fuel efficient vehicle.

I would take my children on vacations.

I would start a home based baking business.

I would buy my children new shoes and clothes more often.

I would take them to the movies.

I would take them out to dinner more.

I would be less stressed about paying our bills.

I believe I would be happier without the stress of poverty hanging over my head.

If you had to pay someone to care for your children 24 hours a day, cook meals, clean your house and never take a vacation – how much do you think that would be?

Why shouldn’t I get paid for doing that? How are you going to tell your own Mother “I didn’t need you, your job isn’t worth anything.”?

Chances are that you aren’t.

Nothing but good can come from a society dealing with less stress and pressure. It may be easy to disregard the people living in poverty, but think about the World your child is growing up in, the World you want them to grow up in.

Automation IS coming. Your children may grow up to be in the same situation my family is now. Or worse. Is that really what you want for them?

If you are interested in supporting a presidential candidate that advocates for UBI, please check out Andrew Yang’s 2020 campaign page here.