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0 pointswing-_-nuts3y ago0 comments

On the one hand, I think it's laudable that the cities are trying to do something beyond simply incarcerating the homeless like so many red cities do. On the other, I do think they need to have a firmer hand in getting them off the streets. They need a carrot and stick approach. They need to offer temporary housing, and treatment for addiction and mental health issues. Those that refuse? Well, the stick is jail. You choose.

Regardless, living in a proto-shanty town should no longer be tolerated.

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systemvoltage3y ago· 2 in thread

I don't think it is laudable. I'd love to move to Singapore or Tokyo where none of this drug culture is perpetuated.

Under the hood, this is a way to get party votes by instituting state dependency at tax payer's expense. It is all terrible politics. See our immigration policy. It is vote-making machinery.

wing-_-nutsOP3y ago

I guess your point of view on this really hinges on whether you think the state should help or punish homelessness. If you're really trying to do the most good for your citizens, getting them into mental health and drug treatment is massively less costly and than leaving the matter to your police and emergency departments.

If you think that the role of the state is to simply punish, and any sort of larger scale intervention is nanny state big government, then yeah I can see how you would favor harsher treatment.

In my personal view, I don't think that helping fosters dependence. If anything, that help can be a safety net which allows them to get back on their feet and prosper. I started out my adult life on SSI disability. I got federal grants which helped me pay for my education, and trust me when I say that the state reaped a huge return on their investment when you look at the taxes I've paid over the course of my career in comparison to their initial investment. My experience definitely colours my world view.

systemvoltage3y ago

I think the idea would be to not let homelessness happen in the first place and having strict drug laws that would severely punish people who engage in drugs. Soft-on-drug policies do not work and we've been told lies for last 30 years. The results are extremely clear. The only answer to that doesn't have to be some socialist state of affairs. Plenty of highly capitalistic societies work fine, in fact evidently far better than instituting California-style socialist state.

The whole mechanism is meant to gain votes. There is no humanity here. We have the same interests, to make better and productive citizens. Legalizing marijuana and normalizing hard drugs are doing the opposite.

In next 20 years, we are going to find out the disasters of legalizing marijuana from the standpoint of GDP per capita. It is going to decline as population revels in lethargy and lack of productivity.

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