Slavery evolved and took on new names, but never disappeared.

How much do you have saved up, that you're willing to tap into so that you can live for yourself and others, and not a paycheck? How long could you just exist before the debt becomes crushing? That's the length of your leash.

Retired people who live comfortably are basically 'off leash' but still confined to the yard. Some people have a 1-2 week 'leash'. Some may have saved up enough to have a 6-12 month 'leash The rest are the 'i could stop working whenever I want, but refuse to' or 'man I'm so fucking far in debt that I'll never be able to stop fucking working'

Most people will never be able to stop working because I'm a slave based economy, a slave must earn it's food every day, and it's bed every night.

Eh, yes and no.

People often don't really appreciate how much freedom they have until it's taken away.

But even with no money at all, I have a bike, and I can ride it as far as I care to in any direction I want (well, at least until I hit a border). And that is so much more freedom than I've had at other points in my life.

“It is difficult for me to imagine what ‘personal liberty’ is enjoyed by an unemployed person, who goes about hungry, and cannot find employment. Real liberty can exist only where exploitation has been abolished, where there is no oppression of some by others, where there is no unemployment and poverty, where a man is not haunted by the fear of being tomorrow deprived of work, of home and of bread.”

Yup. I remember a friend and I discussing various forms of freedoms: Freedom of speech, religion, privacy, etc. We tried to rank them by importance, and while I cannot remember our conclusions, I remember "Economic freedom" to be among the most important ones.

A person should have disposable income and freedom to spent it how they want.

it's a different kind of freedom.

freedom exists in your mind. ask sartre. i am burdened, but i am radically free.

UBI is far more pluralist than democracy, because democracy is corrupt promises with Zionist/CIA and other power supremacist agendas that only has money for those goals. UBI is the freedom to do anything, including cooperating with others on group enterprises where payoff is future success based.

Where government's role is an administrator taking care of pluralist prosperity/needs of its people, instead of a king/power hierarchy that steals prosperity for its "in group", only UBI can provide the function because people can afford to take care of themselves, and prosperity programs fund more UBI. Every single program/war proposal must be compared to an increased cash dividend to people.

Only pure evil that needs hierarchical slavery for their political power, including the left, opposes UBI, and so UBI cannot come from existing political systems, because they are all pure evil power maximizing.

It's like having health insurance but you can't afford the copays. Then you don't really have health insurance do you ?

It is tricky, yes.

If you happen to be able to participate in events that are free however, you have more options.

Are we going to have yet another round of "everyone should be free to do whatever they want except set up groups with mutual interests"? People want some magical force in the universe, beyond human conventions, that prevents any person or group from gaining power over another.

Sounds a bit extreme. What about all the things you can do for free? Also, the world needs cheap things to keep everyone spending. I’m pretty sure there will always be at least something even the poor can afford.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bill_of_Rights

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_liberty

I will also dissent on this. I've been homeless. I've lived in a rural subsistence community in West Africa where everyone lived on $1 a day. Material items and money do not define freedom.

Your premise is based on a wealthy materialist American mindset. Billions of people, every day, grind just to survive, and yet can still find joy in their lives. A lot of times that's through basic human connection. Visit any of the poorest places on the planet, and it doesn't take much to get people to stop and take notice and smile. To experience joy. Joy is free. Freedom is the ability to have your own emotions, thoughts, and feelings.

Before you get all up about someone keeping them down to prevent some Marxist paradise, please keep in mind that rain-fed agriculture is a gamble many people play with their lives every day. A large, large number of humans grind against the weather. Not as slaves to anyone else.

And, rest assured, there are wealthy people who are miserable and wear "golden handcuffs" because they are stuck doing something they don't love to maintain an above-average standard of living. Fuck - how many of those stupid Housewives shows are there, filled to overflowing with wealthy people showing you in grotesque detail how money and material trap people in pain and emotional suffering, exploited like an emaciated lion in a zoo.

What can YOU do for free to enjoy your freedom? Here's a fun one, go dumpster diving! You'll find cool shit! Some of it you can sell - that's free money, my guy! You can forage for herbs and food, that's always fun once you know what to look for. Oh, you can make hooch from the stuff you find! You can plant the seeds of rotten tomatoes and start a garden. Go with a friend and you might just enjoy yourself. Or go volunteer at a place that feeds the homeless and talk to the people there and get an idea of how much freedom some of them have exactly because they have changed their mindset. Freedom doesn't mean acceptance by society. It's not 1:1 that you are free and loved or free and appreciated, or free and wealthy or free and even fucking smart. But you can taste freedom and realize that only you can bestow it on yourself.

You and you alone own your actions, thoughts and words. What are you doing with them?