[nvelty]

This reminds me of a debate that Tucker Carlson was having, wherein he mentioned that, if he were king, he would immediately ban self-driving trucks, reasoning that truck driving is the #1 employer of non-college educated men in the US. I don't think Carlson thinks such a ban would be advisable in the long run, but there's certainly a point to be made that destroying the livelihoods of large swathes of the population is not something to be trifled with. People aren't fungible, truckers don't become software devs overnight, if ever. There's a cultural aspect to it too, which I think UBI will not fix. Take the coal mining industry in Virginia - there are families there that have been miners for generations. At that point it's become a matter of pride and a centerpiece of their culture, not just a source of income. Cash payments from the government cannot replace that. I grew up surrounded by the abandoned mills left after the collapse of the textile industry in the South. Although a few have been converted into lofts and trendy bars, many remain empty and it hollowed out the communities that grew around them. Parents sent their children to the cities to seek other work; when they get there they lost the old support structure of parents, extended family, friends, and Churches. The kids have no friends to rely on, the parents go into nursing homes as they've no one to take care of them, and there is no transfer of culture. These are the issues that conservatism should attempt to address - instead we get wal-mart patriotism, hyper-libertarian off-shoring of jobs, and neocon wars in the name of evangelical democracy.

[matthewdgreen]

Many of these ideas -- guaranteed employment for citizens, the creation of a strong middle class -- were the specific focus of policy initiatives like the New Deal. Conservatives hated the New Deal and spent decades trying to eliminate it, finally succeeding in the 1980s. The result was a much more efficient (largely offshored) economy, and many of the social ills you mention above.

ETA: It's easy for Tucker Carlson to rail against self-driving trucks when they don't (really) exist and businesses aren't clamoring for them. I'm much more skeptical that he'll remain opposed when they're real and powerful industries are lobbying for them.