Posted on 02/28/2018 5:06:09 AM PST by Jim Noble
Many rural counties are run by someone like Boss Hogg, who was a TV caricature of the local elite in rural America. Perhaps they are not as corrupt as, say, Chicago, but they have vested interests that they will protect. It is difficult to throw the established power structure, whether in a rural county or in Washington, DC. So killing the bully may have been the only feasible option for the residents of the community.
There USED to be places...and I believe it was a government funded “place.”
Yes, of course it was a government funded place.
There are some things the government has to do. The Police Power encompasses protecting the innocent from the dangerously mentally ill.
The New Hampshire (State) Hospital had 6000 beds in 1955. As we all know, there are a lot more crazy people now than in 1955.
The NHH now has 135 beds. Do the math.
Yes...that was my (not made very well) point.
Now, a number of responders have raised the point that government-funded sheltering places for the mentally ill were, in many cases, crappy places to be.
That’s quite true.
Medicaid nursing homes have the same problem.
What the taxpayers will voluntarily pay for in both cases is quite basic. 3 hot meals, a bed, some simple medications, and restraints for those who endanger themselves or others.
This is unappealing when displayed on a television or movie screen.
So, we have chosen the alternative. Poor benighted, frightened souls freezing to death, killed in traffic, lost in prison slave to their hallucinations, and, of course, murders and assaults on the innocent.
A bad exchange, in my opinion. When Jack Nicholson movies become the governing influence on how people vote, it’s time to reconsider the whole voting thing.
oh, don't get me started...I realized in the late 1970's when I was about 26, that even "I" was not qualified to vote on some issues...and said so to co-workers who were appalled that I would admit such a thing. Voting to them was MANDATORY, no matter what!
This is such a difficult dilemma for us as a nation. Years ago, there were other ways to deal with the crazies. Ways which are no longer “allowed”.
The alarm bells I hear are reading about how the old Soviet Union labeled all dissidents “mentally ill”, and threw them in the mental institutions.
As new gun laws are passed to deal with the mentally ill, my concern is that when the commie Dems get back in control (and we pray that never happens, but...), I can envision rabid Obama/Clinton or other commies using the law to label all conservatives as mentally ill, and send in the Swat teams to grab the guns.
I know they can/would do it anyway, but laws about the mentally ill and guns make it “legal”, all nice and neat for them. Just have a commie psychiatrist, teacher, primary care doc, etc. label the conservative mentally ill, and voila. No guns allowed. Tyranny ensues.
It is a real dilemma, and I’m not sure what the answer is. I yearn for the good old days....
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