It began during the Reagan administration and has accelerated ever since. With the continued calls to "shrink government," the door will be flung open even wider.
For the past thirty years, the budget for mental health services in this nation has not kept pace with our growing population. With fewer clinics and limited services, citizens who desperately need help are shunted aside. Many are homeless. Some do have a place to bed down, but they still are ticking time bombs, nonetheless.
Many such individuals are harmless. They live in make-believe worlds that rarely impact the "real world" around them. Others, unfortunately, suffer from grand delusions that play out in the towns and streets across America. When they commit unspeakable atrocities, far too many members of the public simply want to lock them up and throw away the key or, even worse, kill them as if they were a mad dog.
But we each bear some of the responsibility for their acts. We, as a society, were not there to help them when they needed it most. We turned our collective backs on them when the first indications of trouble became manifest. We shunted them off to the side rather than investing in some preventive measures. We pointed fingers when they began to rant, but we did't try to ascertain the what and the why of their rantings.
In my mind's eye, the role of government in modern society is to provide for the basic needs of the citizens and residents of each country. We need good roads, safe bridges, quality education, trained professionals, an adequate social safety net, affordable health care and a transparent democracy. When ANY of these basic needs is given the short shrift, the whole of society suffers.
Mental health services in this country, among many other things, have been gutted from the inside out. I'm not suggesting that a nation with a robust respect for good mental health absolutely would have prevented the carnage that took place in Tucson yesterday, but there's a better than even chance it could have.
For the past thirty years, the budget for mental health services in this nation has not kept pace with our growing population. With fewer clinics and limited services, citizens who desperately need help are shunted aside. Many are homeless. Some do have a place to bed down, but they still are ticking time bombs, nonetheless.
Many such individuals are harmless. They live in make-believe worlds that rarely impact the "real world" around them. Others, unfortunately, suffer from grand delusions that play out in the towns and streets across America. When they commit unspeakable atrocities, far too many members of the public simply want to lock them up and throw away the key or, even worse, kill them as if they were a mad dog.
But we each bear some of the responsibility for their acts. We, as a society, were not there to help them when they needed it most. We turned our collective backs on them when the first indications of trouble became manifest. We shunted them off to the side rather than investing in some preventive measures. We pointed fingers when they began to rant, but we did't try to ascertain the what and the why of their rantings.
In my mind's eye, the role of government in modern society is to provide for the basic needs of the citizens and residents of each country. We need good roads, safe bridges, quality education, trained professionals, an adequate social safety net, affordable health care and a transparent democracy. When ANY of these basic needs is given the short shrift, the whole of society suffers.
Mental health services in this country, among many other things, have been gutted from the inside out. I'm not suggesting that a nation with a robust respect for good mental health absolutely would have prevented the carnage that took place in Tucson yesterday, but there's a better than even chance it could have.
This is probably an outrageous comment, but when did "mental health services" become the role of government in modern society? Actually, that's kind of creepy.
ReplyDeleteA lot of mental health centers are run by cities and counties. Regardless of whether or not the gov't "runs" the service itself, it provides much of the funding...or, at least, it used to.
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