Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Mental institutions were deemed abuse and discriminatory.
The doors were flung open and the people let loose in city with "Seek help at a clinic".
The do-gooders only cared that the institutions were shut down.
They never cared about what was going to happen to the people who had nowhere to go now.
....and then they blamed it all on Reagan....They're still doing it 35 years later, 10 years after he died.
Harrier knows that in India, there are "untouchables" who by accident of birth are condemned to clean sewers, but we don't have a caste system in North America - or at least not in the U.S.A.
If Canada has a caste system, Harrier can only shake his head.
Tell that to the victims and the families of those killed by those mentally ill people with guns. I am sure that will give them great comfort.
ok then lets set the bar low, so that even those that are borderline are forced into mental institutions. that will go over real well in the halls of the ACLU, you can bet the number of lawsuits will be so large that there would not be enough lawyers in the country to handle the load, even if they were all converted to class action suits. and any law that set the bar too low would be overturned on the first trial, and at every court level up to the scotus.
we cannot do this in a knee jerk manner, it has to be well thought out, and properly executed, which of course leaves out our current governments as none of them are worth a damn in this area.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger
This is true. There is a park like that near where I live in San Jose.
Before I moved to a downtown area with a lot of homeless people, I wouldn't have believed you. After 6 years of living in a downtown where the homeless congregate, I have no trouble believing some people would rather be homeless than work, especially in warmer climates. Over the past few years, I've come to realize that just because I could never imagine living like that doesn't mean someone else wouldn't (and that goes for a lot of things).
yep, until someone actually works with the homeless, or sees what is really going on, they never realize how bad things really are, and that the solutions just dont magically appear.
Why not put them to work making sandwiches for you to eat? Or filing medical records? Or be go-fers on a movie set?
WHY is it always other peoples shyte that comes up when talking about "jobs for the homeless"?
Besides, people already have those jobs and get paid to do them. Even cleaning restrooms. And once you give someone a job you have to manage them. Sometimes you have to just think a few steps ahead before you realize how bad an idea something is.
Even the ones that are deemed a danger to themselves or others are only usually committed for a few days then released, and that is because there is no place to put them. I live in Arkansas. The State hospital has only 66 beds for the whole state...the whole state. The best they can do is put them on meds and then release them. Don't you think those people you see in winter coats in 100 degree temperatures are a danger to themselves? Still there they are...
Both parties share the blame for this. The democrats in their infinite wisdom wanted to get rid of the mental institutions and put the mentally ill in houses in the community. Guess what...nobody wanted crazy people living next door to them. The republicans were able to defund the programs...so here we are, no institutions, and no community treatment. We are left with crazy people roaming the streets with access to guns.
Spot on. As horrible as they may have been, mental hospitals were the lesser evil here. We need to be willing to find the money to fund them. The problem, at least here in California, is the money gets wasted. We had a mental health services income tax on millionaires that passed quite a few years ago. Hasn't done a darn thing to deal with the mental illness issue.
....and then they blamed it all on Reagan....They're still doing it 35 years later, 10 years after he died.
Reagan made the 'contribution' of promoting the environment in which rents necessarily skyrocketed, in turn causing the homeless population to necessarily skyrocket. I was homeless - sleeping in my employer's offsite storage - during his last lame duck months in office.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
