During the start of the Reagan administration, the US homeless population was about 150,000 to 175,000. That was considered scandalous. Now, in LA, the population is about 58,000. Demmies issued tents and made defecating on the city streets legal.
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Just doing their part to fulfill the American dream.
uandurine posted:Just doing their part to fulfill the American dream.
Sounds more like the Mexican dream.
Reagan turned all the people out of the mental institutions in the 1980s. This is part of the fallout from that decision.
Br’er Rabbit posted:Reagan turned all the people out of the mental institutions in the 1980s. This is part of the fallout from that decision.
Actually the act of "mainstreaming" mental health patients into the streets predates Reagan and has a large cast of people who caused the problem:
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10....html?pagewanted=all
THE policy that led to the release of most of the nation's mentally ill patients from the hospital to the community is now widely regarded as a major failure. Sweeping critiques of the policy, notably the recent report of the American Psychiatric Association, have spread the blame everywhere, faulting politicians, civil libertarian lawyers and psychiatrists.
But who, specifically, played some of the more important roles in the formation of this ill-fated policy? What motivated these influential people and what lessons are to be learned?
A detailed picture has emerged from a series of interviews and a review of public records, research reports and institutional recommendations. The picture is one of cost-conscious policy makers, who were quick to buy optimistic projections that were, in some instances, buttressed by misinformation and by a willingness to suspend skepticism.
Many of the psychiatrists involved as practitioners and policy makers in the 1950's and 1960's said in the interviews that heavy responsibility lay on a sometimes neglected aspect of the problem: the overreliance on drugs to do the work of society.
The records show that the politicians were dogged by the image and financial problems posed by the state hospitals and that the scientific and medical establishment sold Congress and the state legislatures a quick fix for a complicated problem that was bought sight unseen.
In California, for example, the number of patients in state mental hospitals reached a peak of 37,500 in 1959 when Edmund G. Brown was Governor, fell to 22,000 when Ronald Reagan attained that office in 1967, and continued to decline under his administration and that of his successor, Edmund G. Brown Jr. The senior Mr. Brown now expresses regret about the way the policy started and ultimately evolved. ''They've gone far, too far, in letting people out,'' he said in an interview.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10....html?pagewanted=all
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Sorry, this article is from the NYTimes... this is one of the men who were in power at the time. Even they know they went too far, but you can believe anything you want. Republicans are good at ignoring facts for their own reality.
As I pointed out before, JFK and the Democrats closed hundreds of asylums, but never provided for alternative treatment.
"The last piece of legislation President John F. Kennedy signed turns 50 this month: the Community Mental Health Act, which helped transform the way people with mental illness are treated and cared for in the United States.
Signed on Oct. 31, 1963, weeks before Kennedy was assassinated, the legislation aimed to build mental health centers accessible to all Americans so that those with mental illnesses could be treated while working and living at home, rather than being kept in neglectful and often abusive state institutions, sometimes for years on end.
Kennedy said when he signed the bill that the legislation to build 1,500 centers would mean the population of those living in state mental hospitals — at that time more than 500,000 people — could be cut in half. In a special message to Congress earlier that year, he said the idea was to successfully and quickly treat patients in their own communities and then return them to "a useful place in society.' "
Stanky,
Democrat flacks attempt to blame Reagan for closing of the asylums. However, he didn't close any. He did reduce the budget when the population dropped. But, restored the budget when the number of inmates increased. whether the inmates were a result of Democrats crazed by the thought of Reagan as governor in unknown.
"1967 Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California. At this point, the number of patients in state hospitals had fallen to 22,000, and the Reagan administration uses the decline as a reason to make cuts to the Department of Mental Hygiene. They cut 2,600 jobs and 10 percent of the budget despite reports showing that hospitals were already below recommended staffing levels.
1969 Reagan reverses earlier budget cuts. He increases spending on the Department of Mental Hygiene by a record $28 million."
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016...o-homelessness-here/
Only an idiot, or a Democrat (pardon my redundant statement) would blame Reagan, who increased the budget as the population of inmates increased.
Br’er Rabbit posted:In California, for example, the number of patients in state mental hospitals reached a peak of 37,500 in 1959 when Edmund G. Brown was Governor, fell to 22,000 when Ronald Reagan attained that office in 1967, and continued to decline under his administration and that of his successor, Edmund G. Brown Jr. The senior Mr. Brown now expresses regret about the way the policy started and ultimately evolved. ''They've gone far, too far, in letting people out,'' he said in an interview.
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10....html?pagewanted=all
_______________________________________________________
Sorry, this article is from the NYTimes... this is one of the men who were in power at the time. Even they know they went too far, but you can believe anything you want. Republicans are good at ignoring facts for their own reality.
And in California the process started with the first Brown and was still continuing with the second Brown with Reagan in the middle. So I guess those put out on the street during a democrat's administration were less dumped than were those dumped in a republican administration?
I might also note that there were 49 other states that were dumping patients during that time as well. So did Reagan overthrow the other 49 states and become super-governor? You can throw out a simple minded "fact" that is not factual but you should be ready to get challenged by the true facts. The truth is that many states had mental institutions as bad as Britain's old Bedlam and newspapers and the ACLU were creating havoc. I would also point out that one of the major reasons for the deintitutionalizing of mental patients was the Community Mental Health Act of 1963 passed during JFK's time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ty_Mental_Health_Act
The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 (CMHA) (also known as the Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act, Mental Retardation Facilities and Construction Act, Public Law 88-164, or the Mental Retardation and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963) was an act to provide federal funding for community mental health centers and research facilities in the United States. This legislation was passed as part of John F. Kennedy's New Frontier.[1] It led to considerable deinstitutionalization.
In 1955, Congress passed the Mental Health Study Act, leading to the establishment of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Mental Health.[2] That Commission issued a report in 1961,[3] which would become the basis of the 1963 Act.[2]
The CMHA provided grants to states for the establishment of local mental health centers, under the overview of the National Institute of Mental Health. The NIH also conducted a study involving adequacy in mental health issues. The purpose of the CMHA was to build mental health centers to provide for community-based care, as an alternative to institutionalization. At the centers, patients could be treated while working and living at home.
Only half of the proposed centers were ever built; none were fully funded, and the act didn’t provide money to operate them long-term. Some states saw an opportunity to close expensive state hospitals without spending some of the money on community-based care. Deinstitutionalization accelerated after the adoption of Medicaid in 1965. During the Reagan administration, the remaining funding for the act was converted into a mental-health block grant for states. Since the CMHA was enacted, 90 percent of beds have been cut at state hospitals.[4]
The CMHA proved to be a mixed success. Many patients, formerly warehoused in institutions, were released into the community. However, not all communities had the facilities or expertise to deal with them.[5] In many cases, patients wound up in adult homes or with their families, or homeless in large cities,[6][7] but without the mental health care they needed.[8]
Yep! Most Demmies read a leftie blog and take it for gospel. Thinking for ones self is mostly a conservative thing. Facts are such inconvenient things.
BTW, the old Bedlam building is now the British Imperial War Museum on the outskirts of London. Went to see it when I visited the city on business. Seemed appropriate for the use.
direstraits posted:Stanky,
Democrat flacks attempt to blame Reagan for closing of the asylums. However, he didn't close any. He did reduce the budget when the population dropped. But, restored the budget when the number of inmates increased. whether the inmates were a result of Democrats crazed by the thought of Reagan as governor in unknown.
"1967 Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California. At this point, the number of patients in state hospitals had fallen to 22,000, and the Reagan administration uses the decline as a reason to make cuts to the Department of Mental Hygiene. They cut 2,600 jobs and 10 percent of the budget despite reports showing that hospitals were already below recommended staffing levels.
1969 Reagan reverses earlier budget cuts. He increases spending on the Department of Mental Hygiene by a record $28 million."
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016...o-homelessness-here/
Only an idiot, or a Democrat (pardon my redundant statement) would blame Reagan, who increased the budget as the population of inmates increased.
From the SAME ARTICLE....
1963 President John F. Kennedy signs the Community Mental Health Act. This pushes the responsibility of mentally ill patients from the state toward the federal government. JFK wanted to create a network of community mental health centers where mentally ill people could live in the community while receiving care.
1967 Reagan signs the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act and ends the practice of institutionalizing patients against their will, or for indefinite amounts of time. This law is regarded by some as a “patient’s bill of rights”. Sadly, the care outside state hospitals was inadequate. The year after the law goes into effect, a study shows the number of mentally ill people entering San Mateo’s criminal justice system doubles.
1980 President Jimmy Carter signs the Mental Health Systems Act to improve on Kennedy’s dream.
1981 President Reagan repeals Carter’s legislation with the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. This pushes the responsibility of mentally ill patients back to the states. The legislation creates block grants for the states, but federal spending on mental illness declines.
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Republicans will lie when they know the truth. Liarstraits knew this was in the article he posted and chose to 'leave it out'. Republicans think they can have their own facts, separate from the truth.
direstraits posted:Yep! Most Demmies read a leftie blog and take it for gospel. Thinking for ones self is mostly a conservative thing. Facts are such inconvenient things.
BTW, the old Bedlam building is now the British Imperial War Museum on the outskirts of London. Went to see it when I visited the city on business. Seemed appropriate for the use.
RiverDance posted:direstraits posted:Yep! Most Demmies read a leftie blog and take it for gospel. Thinking for ones self is mostly a conservative thing. Facts are such inconvenient things.
BTW, the old Bedlam building is now the British Imperial War Museum on the outskirts of London. Went to see it when I visited the city on business. Seemed appropriate for the use.
I'm guessing the word Conservative has a different meaning in,not so jolly, England with Theresa May when compared to the US.
Theresa is no Maggie Thatcher, that's for certain. Better than a Labour party leader is the best one can say of her.
direstraits posted:RiverDance posted:direstraits posted:Yep! Most Demmies read a leftie blog and take it for gospel. Thinking for ones self is mostly a conservative thing. Facts are such inconvenient things.
BTW, the old Bedlam building is now the British Imperial War Museum on the outskirts of London. Went to see it when I visited the city on business. Seemed appropriate for the use.
I'm guessing the word Conservative has a different meaning in,not so jolly, England with Theresa May when compared to the US.
Theresa is no Maggie Thatcher, that's for certain. Better than a Labour party leader is the best one can say of her.
Definitions change over time and mean different things in different places. Take the word "liberal", the classical definition meant someone like Thomas Jefferson:
Classical liberalism is a political ideology that values the freedom of individuals — including the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and markets — as well as limited government. It developed in 18th-century Europe and drew on the economic writings of Adam Smith and the growing notion of social progress. Liberalism was also influenced by the writings of Thomas Hobbes, who argued that governments exist to protect individuals from each other. In 19th- and 20th-century America, the values of classical liberalism became dominant in both major political parties. The term is sometimes used broadly to refer to all forms of liberalism prior to the 20th century. Conservatives and libertarians often invoke classical liberalism to mean a fundamental belief in minimal government.
http://www.chegg.com/homework-...ssical-liberalism-53
Modern "liberals" revere the statist nanny state over-regulation of the populace and socialist or semi-socialist (Corporatism) economic systems.
Europeans still use the old definition. I was amused being called a liberal in France.
BTW, a major Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn was outed as a communist agent during the cold war. Gave info to Czechoslovakian spy Jan Sarkocy. Still has no regrets, despite the murderous gulags that made the German concentration and death camps look small in comparison. That's what we're dealing with in the US, as well.
