California Dreaming: Stockton's Young Mayor To Reward Potential Shooters With Basic Income

California is known for its disturbing liberal policies such as sanctuary cities, but the young mayor of Stockton takes the cake with his latest proposal. Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, 27, wants to award at least $500 a month to a very select group of residents. Surely, Tubbs must mean those who are upstanding, law-abiding citizens who are deserving of a helping hand, right?

Wrong.

Tubbs, who is a Stockton native and Stanford graduate, wants to test a $500-$1000 a month guaranteed basic income for 18 months. The idea of a basic income isn't new, it has even been put to the test in certain countries like Finland, but what Tubbs is proposing isn't just basic income. Tubbs proposes rewarding only a small number of people with the pilot program: potential school shooters.

The program would be called Advance Peace and is modeled after a crime reduction program in Richmond, California. The idea is targeting the small number of people responsible for the largest percentage of violence, and offering them free money, counseling, and case management over an 18 month period. "Let me be clear, Advance Peace is not a get out of jail free card," Tubbs said. "Participating in this program doesn't erase the past, but it does help these young men learn how to make better choices for their own and our community's collective future."

Stockton is a city that has been plagued by poverty, crime and gang activity. "We get 50 constituents a week, if not more, calling and emailing us to explain why they would benefit" from the monthly stipend, Tubbs said. "It's heartbreaking that they're asking, but it's also exciting that we can do something for these people."

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Tubbs idea is something out of a fantasy world in his head and does the exact opposite of reducing crime; it encourages it. By announcing that only the most degenerate delinquents will be selected for the program, it helps residents to act out and reinforce their case of why they are the badest kid on the block. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, which is one of the few states in America which has a basic income for its residents, called out Tubbs on Twitter saying, "You've got to be kidding."

Tubbs wrote back, "Actually modeled after the Alaska Permanent Fund. Are you familiar with it?" While Alaska doesn't provide enough money to live on for its residents, the Alaska fund does award residents about $2,000 a year from state oil revenues. A Stockton resident who works as a deli operator named Robin Luna-Gonzalez said, "Obviously, it's a dumb idea. Why are we paying criminals?"

Here is an idea Mr. Tubbs, how about rewarding those residents of Stockton who are trying to do something with their lives and are role-models for the troubled teens of the community? Then you will be providing an incentive for kids to be model citizens and contribute to the community. This backward way of thinking that Tubbs is pushing is not going to improve things in Stockton; it's only going to divide the community further. Maybe the Advance Peace program should advance peace instead of rewarding the exact kind of behavior society wants to get rid of.

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Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-stockton-money-05272018-story.html