Do you think republicans will ever take the mental health crisis seriously?

[normalice]

They have to know that no one who votes republican could ever be quite given a clean bill of mental health. It is a party that is absolutely reliant on insecurity to cow or enrage people into keeping them relevant. And whatever else insecurity is, it isn't healthy. So, every time there is a mass shooting republicans talk about the mental health crisis and democrats largely agree it needs to be addressed, but then republicans block mental health solutions. They must know they would legislate themselves out of existence if there was ever a threat to the rampant insecurity in this country. Do you think they are aware or do they actually buy their own rhetoric?

They know and will eventually sacrafice their party for the good of the country

They know but aren't interested in fixing the problem

They don't know addressing the mental health crisis would be the end of the republican party

[nightdrot]

Not sure of the calumny being directed at Republicans in this question given the history of the treatment of mental illness in this country. Leaving aside that the "crisis" only began to become an issue worthy of media attention after the pandemic, the Democrats do not have a history of covering themselves in glory on this issue.

To start, the mental health crisis is not a crisis in the strict sense. Rather it is a problem with no definitive solution that much be managed as best it can be. Albeit that it is a problem that was severely aggravated by the nation's handling of the pandemic.

That response amounted to a giant uncontrolled social experiment in which Americans made themselves the guinea pigs. Suffice to say, those with the fewest resources or in problematic health were bound to pay a price.

However, that price was set well back before the pandemic. It had been the policy, in law, that those with mental illnesses would be confined to facilities where they would not be a threat to public safety nor to themselves.

However, with the advent of the Great Society agenda with its' presumptions that society could be engineered to desired outcomes - and at about the same time innovations in pharmacology - the theory developed that mental illness was an involuntary response to a hostile social environment. Therefore that mainstreaming the mentally ill be allowing them into the broader culture would improve their lot and help in their rehabilitation. Aiding them, an infrastructure of outpatient facilities would be provided.

So the mental health asylums - which, to be sure, were not always as humane as they ought to have been - were closed, and all but the most dangerous of the mentally ill were released into the public realm. In effect - and please note again that this was as a consequence of the theoretical underpinnings of the Democrat's "Great Society" agenda - it was another giant uncontrolled social experiment.

The result: Skyrocketing homeless rates for the mentally ill. Increased suicides and petty crime and a whole host of other problems. The outpatient infrastructure was only partially built - but even then only a small percentage of those with mental illness availed themselves of these resources.

Thus where things stand. It also being noted that Democrat run cities have failed to render any but the most meager assistance to the mentally ill. Indeed, note that San Francisco recently implemented a program to give free housing to transsexuals. This while providing no assistance to those with mental illnesses.

Such is Democrat compassion on this issue. Showering benefits on favored groups as the casualties from the Democratic party's last grand social experiment live in the streets and in extremis become involved in crime and other pathologies.

Indeed, it is also worth noting that the response to the current mental health crisis from Democrats has not been to build any infrastructure to support those suffering from mental health problems. Rather, the focus has been on gun control. Please note that the House under Speaker Pelosi is due to consider gun control legislation when it returns from its Memorial Day recess. (The Senate Democrats have announced that they might be willing to consider mental health legislation.)

Whatever the merits of gun control - and I am personally not averse - it is noteworthy that the Speaker's bill contains nothing that addresses mental health issues. This begging the question of when Democrats "will ever take the mental health crisis seriously."

The bottom line being that the social engineers of the Democratic party - largely though not exclusively liberals - made the mentally ill the guinea pigs in their grand schemes. The mentally ill - and the public at large - paying the price for the Democrat's hubris. In this connection, as regards the question posed here, the Republicans are being asked to "un-ring the bell."

[SlightlyEccentric]

Let me remind you it was liberals who through a hissy fit about mentally unstable people being forcibly admitted into mental hospitals because it was clear they were a danger to themselves and others. Unsurprisingly enough that was also around the same time that school shootings began to grow in numbers. It's almost like there's a connection between the two.

[normalice]

False, it was Reagan who ended that.

[SlightlyEccentric]

Yeah after being heavily scrutinized by said liberals who couldn't shut the fuck up and realize that a lot of people who do get confined to mental hospitals actually deserve it and should be kept away from society.

[normalice]

No, it was entirely budget cuts used for justification, as has been the case for cuts to every single government function, except those that handout money to the rich, for the last 40 years.

[Anonymous]

Don't worry, Biden will fix this problem just as well as he fixed the border.

[888theGreat]

As a Conservative I do. I would lock all Democrats and liberals up in an institution. They are all bat shit crazy. Just think how near perfect world would be if they were all locked up and not screwing everything up. From printing money out of thin air to killing off future tax base by using abortion to murder babies.

[exitseven]

It is Republicans that see mass shootings as a mental health issue and not a gun issue. They know that a nutcase will figure out a way to kill people with something else. Like running them over in a parade.

[goaded]

How many times has that happened in the last decade? Bet it's fewer than mass shootings in the last week, or school shootings in the last year.

[goaded]

How many Republicans are in favour of taking guns away from people with mental health problems? Like the guy who shot at random cars and killed an 8 year old?

[exitseven]

@goaded The bottom line is that they are all nutcases. Fix the mental health system and a lot of the murders will stop. There was a guy who lived in the next town from me that went back to where he worked and shot up the place. I know some of the local cops and they told me that nobody was surprised at this. This guy was a poster child for mental health intervention but there really is no laws to force it and no infrasructure to support it.

[goaded]

They're called red flag laws.

[exitseven]

@goaded we do not really have an effective set of laws. I know a police chief that posts a notice on the bulletin board announcing that a particular person has applied for a gun permit and does anyone on the department have a problem with it. If somebody thinks this person is violent or is a nutcase the chief will deny the permit.

[goaded]

That's the sort of thing the masses are clamouring for. Not doing anything based on an interpretation of the second amendment that wasn't supported for most of the history of the country (SCOTUS upheld the assault weapons ban as constitutional just 25 years ago, towns set their own conditions for carrying firearms in the 19th century, etc.) is just insane.

[Anonymous]

Do you think that Leftists will ever ask an honest question?

[Anonymous]

Sure, it's the GUN that has the mental health issues, that's why the left wants them taken away right?