I believe you are making yourself upset by arguing from the point of the ideal. Its not a matter of meritocracy vs basic income. Its the current welfare state

I believe you are making yourself upset by arguing from the point of the ideal. Its not a matter of meritocracy vs basic income. Its the current welfare state vs basic income. People like you and I are already paying loads of money to the masses in the form of (from an American perspective) Food Stamps, continued Federal make-work programs (like the USPS/military), Social Security, Disability Insurance, Medicare/Medicaid, etc. Just as a freebie example, The US spends ~$3000 per capita on its military. Cut that in half and give everyone $1500/year no strings attached. That alone would relieve a lot of stress for a large percent of Americans.