California Homeless Purge Shows Politics Behind Vagrant Problem
The reality is some people cannot survive on their own and will tear the social fabric apart if permitted. These individuals must be remanded to asylums where they can live out their days in peace.
If there’s one issue that defines the West Coast, it’s homelessness. Once vibrant cities like Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle are blighted by seas of tents. Residents are responding by leaving en masse, preferring to put down roots in soil uncontaminated by vagrant piss.
In light of this, a most unexpected source has decided to act. California Governor and Patrick Bateman clone Gavin Newsom recently signed an executive order ordering state officials to begin tearing down the morass of homeless encampments across the state.
From Newsom, “This executive order directs state agencies to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them — and provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same. There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part.”
Newsom is right. I shudder to say that, but it’s true. There are no more excuses for the West Coast when it comes to homelessness.
Following a long overdue decision by the Supreme Court ruling that criminalizing vagrancy does not violate the 8th Amendment, federal legal obstacles against cleaning up the streets have been eliminated. The largest block is now political activists and their legislative allies.
Oregon House Bill 3115, sponsored by state legislator turned governor Tina Kotek, said laws surrounding hobos must “be objectively reasonable as to time, place and manner with regards to persons experiencing homelessness.”
As a native Oregonian, I can say “objectively reasonable” has come to mean non-existent. One visit to Portland displays how ingrained the fentanyl zombie horde has become, and the toothlessness with which the city government responds to them. These issues are exacerbated by a homeless industrial complex within the government that actively continues the cycle.
One particularly galling story detailed how Portland spent millions of dollars to clean up old, dilapidated, dangerous tents only to turn around and provide new tents for the homeless to destroy. All on the taxpayer’s dime. The program has been paused, but the city will continue to distribute the tents it already bought. Maybe with some free drug paraphernalia as a bonus.
But if even Gavin Newsom’s California can begin making progress on this front, perhaps the other states can take notice.
And if they do, they’ll need a solution. I happen to have a few.
The homeless issue must be understood as three separate issues, and those living on the streets categorized into three separate classes.
The first class is the temporarily homeless. These are the people down on their luck through no fault of their own.
Many Americans unfortunately live on the razors edge when it comes to personal finances. A lost job, a surprise medical expense, or an unexpected bill can mean the difference between cautious stability and sleeping in the car.
For these people, social services and assistance are the key. If there are any deserving of the social security net, it is those who can contribute to society if not for a temporary setback. Food stamps, welfare, and unemployment can keep them above water until they get back on their feet.
It’s worth noting that these are not the homeless most people point to when they discuss the problems plaguing major cities on the Pacific. That would be the second class of homeless: the unfixables.
As their name suggests, these are the people who simply cannot function in the real world anymore. They won’t get better with time. They can’t be given food stamps and temporary assistance to work their way back from the brink. They’re just gone, brains fried by drugs or mental illness.
These are the zombies that roam the streets looking for innocents to terrorize. And they’re the ones that need to be removed from public life, with or without their consent. That without-their-consent angle is the biggest snag, emblematic of the unholy union between rabid progressivism and permissive libertarianism that defines West Coast homeless policy.
The Portland Progressive watches fecklessly as his city crumbles before him, impotent to act for fear of trampling on the rights of another while his own are knifed in the chest.
The reality is some people cannot survive on their own and will tear the social fabric apart strand by strand if permitted. These individuals must be remanded to asylums and sanitariums where they can safely live out their days apart from society.
It’s better for everyone this way.
As proof, consider Oregon yet again. When the state closed Dammasch State Hospital in 1995, the mentally deranged patients flooded onto the streets of Portland where they remain to this day.
Would anyone truly argue that living in even the most “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” style sanitarium is worse for the homeless than overdosing alone in the streets, raped and frozen?
That leaves the final class of homeless. These are those seeking to live a bohemian lifestyle. They are perfectly capable of living normal lives, but choose not to. The solution to this one is simple. Straight to jail. Choosing vagrancy is not an option.
I never thought we’d be here but I wish California’s governor the best of luck. Homelessness is the apocalyptic issue facing the West Coast. I suppose the enemy of my enemy is my friend here; if Newsom wants to fight vagrancy, he’s my friend for now.
Saying that felt weird. I’m gonna go take a shower.