David Atkins, “Basic universal income gets even more traction – from both sides of the aisle”

Yes, David, I think you are absolutely right when you say, “The idea is attractive for a number of reasons, and appeals to thinkers of a variety of political persuasions.” In fact, if the idea could ever reach the cynical and disaffected victims of the current economic regime, the austerity strapped majority of Americans, the sheer number of uBIG supporters would become apparent — my guess is 85% of Americans.



But even supposing that we have a firm 90% of Americans supporting the idea, we’re still in the situation of single-payer healthcare reform: the monied elite own the political system, and won’t let it happen thru the political channels they control, i.e., Congress.



The relevant historical data here is the Free Silver or bimetalism Populist campaign led by William Jennings Bryan at the end of the 19th century, when a great majority of Americans were ready to use the existing political channels — the electoral process — to turn the economic system upside down and empower the disempowered. What happened? The monied elite simply spend 5 times more money on the 1896 presidential election than has ever been spent before or since (in inflation adjusted dollars) to elect their candidate, McKinley, who quashed the idea.



I say this not to quelch your ardor for the idea, but to suggest that we’re going to need to adopt it through the 28th amendment to the Consititution, by using the alternate clause in the 5th Amendment that allows a popularly convened Constitutional Convention to override the will of a corrupt Congress to make the change that can implement the millenium of Abundance (already 45 years overdue, according to Bucky Fuller).



Please consider the thinkBIGamerica campaign:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teQLrGB4ol8