Short version: If it's a good idea, let them fund it through kickstarter.
Longer version: I am a big fan of unconditional cash transfers to the needy, provided it's done voluntarily, from private funding. GiveDirectly.Org has been showing good results this way, and I've been making a small recurring donation to them for a couple years.
Whether universal or not, my support goes away when it becomes a proposal for a taxpayer funded entitlement, though. I agree with you. It would be an improvement if it replaced existing programs, but that's never gonna happen. It stands 0 chance of being implemented "instead of" existing programs. It will only be "in addition to", which will perpetuate existing waste and also create a new target for bureaucratic skimming.
I've never heard of GiveDirectly.org...but on visiting the site I'm extremely impressed. I love these P2P style workarounds--Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Kickstarter, OpenBazaar, BitCoin, etc. P2P systems like these are releasing humans in ever greater numbers to attack poverty via freeing the mechanisms of wealth creation to anyone with a net connection and a smartphone (or a Raspberry Pi).
What a beautiful, peaceful, and momentously meaningful assault on both poverty and global force structures.
Cheers Remlaps!
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