Skip to content

Introducing Andrew Yang

Scott Santens
Scott Santens
2 min read
Silvrback blog image

I wrote this short speech on January 30 to introduce Andrew Yang at his town hall in Dubuque, Iowa. Photo by Marc Klockow of my delivering it.


If you're Yang Gang, there's a good chance you know who I am, and if you're Yang Curious, you're probably wondering, who the heck is this guy? Well, I'm a guy who's been pushing for universal basic income for seven straight years now, and I'm here to tell you, the Freedom Dividend is the most important policy of the 21st century, and Andrew Yang is the only candidate who knows that. Andrew knows this is about Amazon, data, and robots, but he also knows this is about poverty, security, and humanity.

We need to ask the question, "What is America for?" We founded this country on the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and over two centuries later, we have yet to live up to these ideals. Do we truly recognize the right to life so long as we don't all have the money we need to live? Do we have liberty if through a lack of money, we lack the power to say no to those who don't lack money? Do we have the ability to even think about pursuing happiness so long as mere survival is all we can think about?

It cannot be overstated how important this election is. On Monday, you have the power to help return power to the people to a truly historic degree. If this were the 18th century, Andrew would be the guy talking about this idea called democracy while everyone else was debating who would be the better king or queen.

I'm not exaggerating. An Andrew Yang presidency will be as transformative as when we chose self-governing over the divine right of kings. We need to remember there are no kings here. This country is ours. All of ours. It belongs to We the People. Democracy was a reallocation of power in a time of kings. The Freedom Dividend is a reallocation of power in a time of billionaires. The Freedom Dividend is not free money. It's freedom. It's freedom from poverty, freedom from abusive relationships, and the freedom to start dreaming again.

I want that freedom for everyone and so there is no human being on this planet who I'd rather see in the White House than Andrew, so please now welcome my friend, and the 46th President of these United States, Andrew Yang!


Silvrback blog image sb_float

Did you enjoy reading this? Please click the subscribe button and also consider making a monthly pledge in support of my daily advocacy of basic income for all.

Silvrback blog image sb_float_center
Andrew Yangspeeches

Scott Santens Twitter

Unconditional/Universal Basic Income (UBI) advocate with a crowdfunded basic income; Founder and President of ITSA Foundation, Author of Let There Be Money; Editor of BasicIncomeToday.com


Related Posts

Members Public

Sowing Seeds of Security: How Basic Income Is Taking Root in the U.S. through Local Pilots and Programs

Note: The following is a speech I gave at the 2023 Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) Congress that was held in Seoul, South Korea. You can find more of the presentations there online at this link. Thank you for inviting me from my home in Washington, D.C. to be

Sowing Seeds of Security: How Basic Income Is Taking Root in the U.S. through Local Pilots and Programs
Members Public

My Closing Keynote Speech at England's Basic Income North 2023 Conference

(The following is the text of my speech which you can also watch or listen to) A few of you already know me, but for those who don’t, I’m just a guy who happened to get really into the concept of unconditional basic income ten years ago. I

My Closing Keynote Speech at England's Basic Income North 2023 Conference
Members Public

The BIG Picture of Money, Economics, and Humanity

The following is the speech I gave at the 2022 BIG Conference on the day Roe vs Wade was overturned. If you prefer, you can also listen to the recorded audio. I apologize in advance for kind of running in the red today. Like in Pulp Fiction, I'm

The BIG Picture of Money, Economics, and Humanity