Getting the legislative votes to enact UBI is one thing. But my fear is that politicians would just think that after that, their task is done. In fact, it has hardly begun. The state would need to offer the masses of perpetually un- or underemployed people activities, things to do with their lives. This would be a hard sell in the USA especially, where historically there has been relatively little state support of community infrastructure, but the private institutions like churches and clubs that used to provide that infrastructure have now collapsed.

The Nordic countries have experienced this problem firsthand, where in spite of a safety net and generous funding of arts, culture, and leisure in areas suffering from high unemployment, a substantial number of people still prefer to drink their lives away or hang out on internet fora to complain about how they feel no purpose in their lives.