Last summer, in my happy ignorance of thinking there was no way Trump could return to office, I was stuck at a Met game sitting next to a couple of his adherents.

It was a Met game, so you would hope they’d be focused on seeing the Amazins win.

But, nah, why would they focus on that? More than sufficiently lubricated by strong beverage, they began spewing the mantra of the indignant:

There are people getting free stuff!

They spent the whole game complaining about various groups who were getting things they perceived they weren’t. Forget that they were sitting in one of the more expensive sections of Citi Field – and could apparently afford spending a ton on booze. They screeched “These people” – and there was strong language that the people to whom they referred were not of pale complexion – are getting giveaways of money and cellphones and whatever else from Joe Biden and the rest of the Democratic elite.

Alas, they prevailed in November and we are now three days into this go-round. And instead of lamenting what happened, I’m focused on what we should do.

And that is give free stuff to everybody.

Actually, it’s not stuff. It’s money. Cash. 

It seems like a good time to figure out how to initiate some form of universal basic income (UBI) in the United States.

There are several ways to do UBI. But basically, the idea is to give everybody money on a regular basis. The standard idea would be $1,000 a month. It would go to every person in a household, which means if you and your spouse have two kids, that would be an extra $48,000 a year in family income.

And it would go to you no matter your status. Employed or unemployed. Husband or wife. Parent or child.  Billionaire or living hand-to-mouth. 

What would that extra money provide? 

Obviously, if you’re unemployed, it would provide you with some income. (Although it’s likely unemployment benefits might be better – in New York, weekly unemployment pay goes up to $500.)

If you’re working two jobs to make ends meet, maybe you can quit the one you like least. Or you can buy time to get a better job. UBI begins to compensate women for staying at home with their kids. It is a way to help families build the kind of generational wealth so many can’t afford. 

Andrew Yang, when he ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020 and before he lost his common sense, made UBI a cornerstone of his campaign. His argument was that the tech revolution is chewing up jobs faster than it’s creating them – and that giving everyone money would soften the blow for unemployed families and the rest of the community.

There have been several small efforts at UBI around the world. The results are generally positive – people receiving a steady supplement are significantly happier than those who don’t.

It is, of course, a form of socialism. Although a kind of socialism that some doctrinal conservatives seem OK with.

In fact, there is one place in the United States where a form of UBI has been in effect for more than 40 years. It is not a hotbed of liberal thought like California or Massachusetts.

It’s Alaska, one of the most politically conservative states in the union. Every resident of the state get a check from the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend – paid for by the revenue generated from the production of oil and gas in the state. 

Last year, each Alaskan received $1,702. You and your spouse have two kids – that’s $6,808 just handed to you.

The thing is that Alaska addresses the issue that opponents would flag instantaneously: How do we pay for this? In this case, oil companies are paying to deplete the state’s natural resources and the money is going to people.

It’s likely a UBI program would require an increase in government revenue of about 75%. And right away, critics would scream about imposing an at least 50% tax increase on the American people. Nobody wants that.

So the task facing anyone who thinks UBI might be an idea whose time has come is daunting: paying for it. Is it an effort to get the wealthy to pay a larger share of the burden after they backed Trump in order to get even more tax breaks? Or are there creative ways to generate the revenue: a national lottery, leasing fees from government land?

The idea is to have an idea – to have more than one. Finding ways to improve our lives needs to be the focus, because our warnings about what a horror Trump is went unheeded by a plurality of our countrymen.

So let’s see if CBI is something that we can push and advance – something you can be certain is not in the interest of selfish bastards like Trump and his tech bro friends. 

Because everyone likes getting stuff – if only to pay for another scotch-and-soda in the 6th inning. MAGA types might be less indignant if they’re getting it too.