It appears the officials
of the nation in which we live are in the process of going insane. In the aftermath of the June 12th mass murder
spree by a deranged terrorist in Orlando, Florida, and amidst a general deterioration
of the social order by an ever increasing portion of the population, our
elected and appointed leaders at all levels of government demonstrate their complete
indifference to the problems faced or the remedies required.
There’s no denying
that homelessness is a scourge. To be
without a place to live is among the most debilitating afflictions a person can
suffer. And one of the principal causes
for this, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, is mental illness. Equally high on the list of reasons is
chronic drug abuse, which many would class as a variation of mental illness. And a survey by the United States Conference
of Mayors concluded that better coordination with mental health service
providers by the cities would be a top item in combating homelessness.
We must ask how the
eradication of homelessness is coming along?
America’s second largest city, Los Angeles, typifies the approach, as
countless nonprofit organizations cooperate to provide shelters of one sort or
another to house the ever-increasing number of homeless. And although many of the persons using these
services must agree to forego drug use as a condition for entry, there are no meaningful
mental health services offered. It’s
understandable; the funds for such treatment are not available.
So what sort of
substitute is offered? Angelenos
can take meaningful, personal steps to address the homelessness crisis through
Mayor Eric Garcetti’s new Welcome Home Project.
As the mayor says, “Everywhere I go, people ask how they can help end
the homelessness crisis. The project
reminds us that homeless residents are not statistics. They are people with
stories, families, and dreams for their futures. The Welcome Home Project will provide basic
necessities for our formerly unsheltered neighbors, encourage dialogue, and
contribute to a cultural shift in the way we treat those experiencing
homelessness. We must do it together. I am asking everyone to do their part.”
Whether a one-time
visit by the Welcome Wagon, with a
few items of food or knick knacks, will do anything to impart rationality to a schizophrenic
is doubtful, but I suppose it can’t hurt the mayor’s image for his next
reelection campaign.
In another arena,
in search of a method to prevent the next Orlando, the nation is involved in a
heated debate over ways to inhibit a future terrorist from trying to set yet
another record in the number of victims killed in a single episode. While the antigun crusaders attempt to remove
all firearms from private hands, the National Rifle Association resists these
efforts in every way possible. The
arguments, pro and con, normally revert to the standard talking point each side
has employed over the years. There’s a
bit of reasonableness to both points of view, but it’s unlikely either course
of action would prevent a determined gunman from wreaking havoc.
At the same time,
the crusade goes on to protect our society by preventing more foreigners from
entering the country, as well as somehow extracting the millions of illegal
aliens—excuse me, undocumented immigrants—already
here. Presumptive Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump seems to embrace both policies, vowing to
promptly send the eleven million (other estimates indicate there may be more
than twenty million) back to their countries of origin. If, through the use of executive order, and a
sizeable staff devoted exclusively to the program, he could actually manage to locate,
process and deport as many as a thousand per day, it would take over thirty
years to accomplish. Do you detect a
touch of absurdity here?
Although we’ve explored
the proposals of a few of our nation’s prominent leaders, with views which
border on dementia, there’s yet one statement which thoroughly defies reality. The source: none less than the U.S. Attorney
General, Loretta Lynch. On June 21st, in
her comments, largely directed at the LGBT community, and relating to a
Muslim’s terrorist’s massacre of forty-nine persons at a gay nightclub in
Orlando, she said:
“We
stand with you to say that the good in this world far outweighs the evil, that
our common humanity transcends our differences, and that our most effective
response to terror and to hatred is compassion, it’s unity, and it’s love. We stand with you today as we grieve
together, and long after the cameras are gone, we will continue to stand with
you as we grow together in commitments, in solidarity, and in equality.”
I can only hope
that the actual author of those lines, spoken by the nation’s senior law
enforcement officer, was a third tier speech writer, somewhere in the bowels of
the Justice Department, who has since been fired, and that the attorney general
is actually in the process of taking action to address the real problems which
confront us. If I thought otherwise, I’d
be far more scared than at any time since the 9/11 kickoff of our war with Islamist
terrorism nearly fifteen years ago.
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If you enjoy this weekly Straight Talk by Al Jacobs, you’re invited to check out my monthly Financial Newsletter, as well as my new book, The Road to Prosperity
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