Image by Stanjourdan (License CC BY-SA 2.0)
Over the past few months I’ve spent a lot of time researching and writing about basic income for The Underemployed Life: how basic income can ease the burden of underemployment, the history of basic income, and basic income experiments going on around the world.
But all of this means nothing without action. Today, I’d like to take the conversation a step further. I’m going to share some easy steps we can all take to push our governments to adopt basic income on a large scale.
Starting the conversation
The road to change begins with a conversation, and this one is all about education. At this point, most people have heard the term basic income thrown around. However, many still have misconceptions about what it actually means.
If we want to see basic income take hold in our countries, we need to bring it into the public eye. We need to start the conversation on social media, at family dinners and social gatherings. Anywhere the conversation can be had, we should have it. Talking about money and politics may be uncomfortable, especially when the two come together, but the conversation is essential if we want other people to understand what we’re fighting for, and if we want them to join us in the fight.
You can also start the conversation with your politicians.
You can use this handy list of US representatives or this list of Canadian Members of Parliament. If you hate talking on the phone, call after hours and leave a message. All phone messages are recorded by staff, and special note is taken of issues that come up over and over again.
In the face of everything happening politically right now it may seem as if talking about basic income is selfish and pointless—especially since Trump has forced people to fight for even the simplest human rights—but we cannot stop fighting for progress just because we’re also fighting to retain the rights we’ve already won. A change as massive as basic income requires decades of consistent effort, and part of that effort is keeping the conversation going, no matter what struggles we face.
There are several reasons why now is the best time to talk about basic income. Automation is displacing many jobs, underemployment is on the rise, and many people are running side hustles simply to stay alive. Also, there are several basic income pilots currently going on around the world for you to talk about. You might be surprised who is receptive to the idea of basic income in today’s rapidly changing economy.
Showing our support for existing basic income organizations
You may not feel your individual voice matters, but every movement is built on individual people coming together to change the world. The following bullet points list different ways you can support organizations working towards a basic income:
- Sign and share petitions: The Basic Income Canada Network and the Basic Income Action Network(US) have petitions gathering signatures from around their respective countries.
- Donate: You can donate to both of the organizations above, or donate directly to basic income projects being run by non-profit organizations GiveDirectly and Eight. It may not feel like much, but I worked at a non-profit, and I can assure you that every dollar makes a significant difference.
- Volunteer: If you have lots of time, but not a lot of money, consider volunteering for a basic income organization like the ones listed above.
Create your own organization
Want to take your support of basic income to the next level? There’s still lots of room to create your own organization supporting basic income. You can even choose exactly how it works. Of course, this will require an incredible amount of work—exactly how much depends on what you want to accomplish—but if you’re truly passionate about basic income, it might be the most rewarding thing you ever do.
Some national basic income organizations also have programs allowing you to create a local chapter. This allows you to control your section of the organization without having to lay the groundwork yourself. Learning to create or run your own section of an organization is a topic worthy of an entire series of books, but you can learn the basics by checking out this Beginner’s Guide to Building a Strong Political Organization.
Final advice
Fighting for progress is exhausting, but we will never get a universal basic income if we don’t fight for it. Decide what you have the energy and resources to do, and commit to doing it—even if all you’re doing is sharing one article about basic income every day on social media. Every contribution, no matter how small, is essential to this fight.
Dianna Gunn is a freelance writer by day and a fantasy author by night. Her debut YA fantasy novella, Keeper of the Dawn, is available now through The Book Smugglers Publishing. She also blogs about books, creativity and life.
You can find out more about her at:
If you would like to make more money, please work hard, get a better job, get a second job, do whatever it takes. If your debt is too high, don’t spend more than you need. If you are worried about student debt, don’t take out huge loans to go to college, and if you do, be sure it is a high paying profession such as engineering.
That’s what I did, and what countless others have done, who were willing to take responsibility for their own choices, mistakes, wins, losses, and lives. Don’t force other people to pay you a basic income just in return for simply being alive. Instead, go out and work. I’ll keep my money, you keep yours, and we’ll all be much better off in the long run,.
No we won’t because you don’t understand that the economic system is shifting away from full time jobs and going towards an economy built on part time jobs, short term gigs or projects, and temporary contract work. What basic income does is help us deal with the inherit instability in that system. It also removes the welfare trap. Secondly it also eases the effects of automation. In the US alone we are looking at losing 47% of jobs to automation over the next twenty years. The current economic system cannot handle that.
The idea that basic income would be there to make up from jobs lost to “automation” is a red herring. If you want money, work for it.
I’ll also note that the government still gives out loans and grants for people to get worthless liberal arts degrees (and who won’t be able to use them because they are not becoming teachers). Maybe the first step to dealing with automation is to make sure no one goes to college for a degree in “women’s studies” or “sub-sahara african literature.” People with those degrees are often easily replaceable.