The Good Hippie's Almanac - Politics

A Case for Universal Basic Income, Health, and Education

Abstract:

The paper argues that due to corruption, antiquity, and poor design the current welfare, healthcare, and educations systems should be replaced with a modernized system of Universal Basic Income, Healthcare, and Education (UBIH&E). In an age of misinformation, the paper was written in hope of providing an honest unbiased scientific opinion on the matter. This is achieved by referencing articles from both sides of the debate then finding solutions and compromises to achieve that goal. The system that is currently in place is discussed before revealing how UBIH&E can help to stabilize our capitalist economy while providing socialized Medicine, Education, and a safety net to all American citizens and citizen minors. Concerns stated by fiscal conservatives are discussed as well. Discussing the cost of our current system and comparing that cost to the cost of a UBIH&E system running at 100% capacity. The conclusions are that this is a very complicated matter. First system must be designed carefully to avoid the pitfalls presented by fiscal conservatives while providing as much service as possible to as many American citizens and citizen minors as possible. Then lawmakers and Citizens must carefully analyze the system so that the fears of the business sector and social sector are alleviated, and prejudicial poppycock is not allowed to parade around as facts.

Universal Basic Income, Health, and Education (UBIH&E) could replace the modern welfare, healthcare, and health systems, while at the same time protecting the economy and the workers. Parts of the current system date back to 1933 and were designed when science was young, and psychology was still the privy of cocaine addicts and people who performed lobotomies on "hysterical" women by the hundreds (Zinn, 2015, pg. 228, Hopkins, 2021, para. 1). Designed to function with the assistance of armies of employees before the advent of modern multi-core processors, these systems were revolutionary for their time and have tried to assist the people of America to find stability and purpose. They are now husks of what they used to be, which should be replaced before they fail when they are needed most.

The issue is that after being gerrymandered, tweaked, rewritten, appended, and defunded, these services no longer serve most of the people who need it. In 1996, House and Senate Neo-Conservatives forced then President Clinton to sign The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which dissolved many federal agencies and sent federal aid money directly to the states with a specific set of goals to use it for (The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. ASPE 2021). The rest is for the most part in the hands of the state, county, and city officials to use within very loose guidelines.

Corruption, even in its current advanced state, is not near as prevalent as made to appear by the media, but what corruption there is happens in a big way. The money invested in these services is siphoned away mostly for pet projects of state and county officials, or the demeaning programs of religious extremists such as abstinence and purity programs in states where the separation of church and state is not strictly enforced.

Efforts by the modern corporate stewardship to manipulate both sides with money and media have resulted in landfall reduction in taxation of businesses and in workers rights. A king's trove of handouts and tax breaks to massive corporations that use their market power to force politicians and government employees by bribery (Mohr 2021, para. 7) pass laws that further strip laws from the rich, middle, and poor socioeconomic classes. What they do not seem to see is that their hoarding and consolidation is irreparably damaging the economy that they claim to be so precious and so fragile.

This is not about communism, socialism, or capitalism. In many cases, the moment that something like UBIH&E is brought up in conversation by an adult of voting age, a chorus of voices will immediately begin to chant socialism is communism. Apparently helping others and doing the right thing are no longer values associated with the great religions of the world but with a pair of failed political ideologies more than one hundred years old. UBIH&E aims to help everybody and if designed and executed with the same attention to detail that an engineer puts into a new skyscraper, will work for all of the people all of the time. Participation in the program could be made optional along with the associated taxes. So, people uninterested in the well-being of their fellow humans can opt-out.