As much as the Toronto Star and others might want to bury the concept of basic income, it is very much alive. When someone puts what they think basic income will cost ahead of other objections, you know they are more interested in their supposed opinion than people. It is a selfish attitude and wrong in so many ways.
What these nay-sayers are telling us is that the needs of individuals in our society are too diverse to be solved with a single social support system. What they are really saying is that they want to continue with the present system that we know does not do the job.
Not since the fictional Oliver Twist asked for more, has anyone really tried to change the strained benevolence of human society. We put our trust in a wide selection of band-aids, that cost more than any single system would cost and yet we know that many of the needy continue to fall through the cracks.
Do you, in your heart, believe that the present mish-mash of services are doing the job? Do you believe that the alternate elections of slightly generous and skin-flint politicians are doing the job?
Frankly, in our society, it takes more than a village to raise a child. It takes compassion and a willingness to get down to where the real needs dwell. You can hardly use band-aids without a basic plan that acknowledges all humanity. It is the very diversity of humans that demands a basic level of support.
It is only when we have assurances of the flotation that keeps everybody’s head above water, that we can effectively address diversity. The simple facts are that we are all different. We need individual solutions. We have to stop throwing the detritus of our society into a place to die. We cannot turn our backs on their being human.
We have to stop treating basic income proposals as a final solution. It is but a step into a finer future for us all.
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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry
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