Photo by Joy Mack
Ten minutes after appearing on stage Saturday evening at The Washington in downtown Burlington, an upbeat Andrew Yang promptly left the stage to serve some beer.
After the task was completed, the Democratic presidential candidate retreated with his wife, Evelyn, for a night of rest. The kids weren’t on this campaign trip, he explained, and it was date night -- a welcome reprieve on a long campaign trail.
Though Yang’s speech at The Washington was short, he spoke at length earlier in the evening at the opening of his new campaign office in Burlington. It was the last stop on a whirlwind campaign trip across Iowa for Yang and his wife.
Yang was welcomed by a packed house at The Washington, about 160 people, by Yang’s estimate. He did note that some people had just wandered in for a beer, via an informal poll.
“I’m going to make the Trumpian (President Donald Trump) estimate and say about 800,” he said, garnering some chuckles from the crowd.
Yang couldn’t help crack a few more jokes on the stage designed for musicians and comedians rather than politicians, but his voice grew serious when he asked the crowd how much Amazon paid in taxes last year.
“Zero,” a few chimed in.
Though Yang has a variety of platforms, including a plan to revitalize the journalism industry and provide health care for all, his main selling point of a universal income was the focus of his Burlington speech.
The "Freedom Dividend" would give every American adult $1,000 month no questions asked, no strings attached. He believes the policy is the correct response to the loss of jobs associated with increased automation.
The idea of a basic universal income isn’t unheard of, which Yang pointed out.
“It’s not my idea,” he said. “Thomas Paine called it a ‘Citizen Dividend.’ ”
Yang said Alaska already has adopted a form of universal income. Alaska’s permanent fund dividend, which holds investments initially seeded by the state's revenue from mineral resources, works much the same way. In 2005, every eligible Alaskan resident (including children) received a check for $845.76.
“My friends in California say they are 98 percent of the way to self-driving trucks. What is that going to mean for the 3.5 million truck drivers here in Iowa and other parts of the country?” he said.
“This is the coolest campaign office in Iowa,” he added.