Cook County, Illinois, has decided to make its guaranteed basic income program permanent. This program gives people cash every month with no strings attached. It started as a trial in 2022, using money from the federal COVID-19 relief funds. Now, the Cook County Board of Commissioners has voted to spend $7.5 million to keep it going. That’s a lot of tax dollars going out, not for jobs or work, but simply for giving away money.
Cook County is the second-largest county in the United States. It includes the city of Chicago. This is no small place, and the decisions made there affect millions of people. When government officials choose to hand out cash without expecting anything in return, it raises serious questions. What message does it send about work, responsibility, and the purpose of government?
The program began with $42 million from the American Rescue Plan Act. That was supposed to be emergency help during the pandemic. But now, Cook County is using local taxpayer money to keep the program going. Over 3,000 households were given $500 a month for two years. They didn’t have to work for it or report how they used it. That’s what they call “no strings attached.”
Supporters of the program say it helps people feel better and less stressed. They point to surveys where folks said they used the money for food, rent, and emergencies. Of course, some people will say it helped. It’s always easy to like free money. But we must ask: what are the long-term effects?
The Illinois Policy Institute, a group that watches government policy in the state, says this kind of program is a mistake. They’ve looked at the data. In other places where similar programs were tried, people ended up with less work experience and lower incomes. That means, even though they got money for a while, they didn’t build the skills or habits that lead to real success over time.
The American way has always been about work, self-reliance, and opportunity. Our Founders believed that government should protect our rights, not replace hard work with handouts. They would not have supported the idea of giving away money just for existing. That’s not how you build strong citizens. That’s how you create dependency.
Even the people running the program admit that the results depend on how the program is designed. They say they’ll try to be thoughtful. But here’s the truth: no matter how carefully you design it, giving away money for nothing goes against the basic principles that built this nation.
We should be helping people find jobs, build careers, and stand on their own two feet. That’s how you lift people out of poverty for good. Giving cash with no work required is not compassion—it’s a trap. It may feel nice at first, but over time, it weakens the spirit and discourages effort.
President Trump has always stood for strong American values: hard work, personal responsibility, and freedom. Programs like this go in the opposite direction. They grow government, hurt the economy, and make people more dependent.
Cook County’s decision is a warning sign. If we don’t stand up for our founding principles, more counties and cities might follow this path. We must remember what makes America great: not handouts, but hard work, faith, and freedom. Let’s support policies that help people rise, not keep them stuck. The Constitution was never meant to guarantee a paycheck. It was meant to guarantee liberty.
