The west coast cities are simultaneously too progressive to support punitive action, yet too “American” to pay for adequate solutions via wealth redistribution.

The west coast cities are simultaneously too progressive to support punitive action, yet too “American” to pay for adequate solutions via wealth redistribution. We do spend a lot of money on combating homelessness already, so I get the frustration from those who question throwing good money after bad. My short answer is that Democrats aren’t actual leftists, so they (claim to) want a bunch of progressive social policies but never pass anything that could actually reduce inequality since they’re just as beholden to the wealthy/corporations as Republicans are. Here’s my laundry list of things politicians could do instead of letting tents fester on sidewalks: - axe the whole health insurance industry. - bring back institutionalization for the guy waving a machete on the bus, and provide wrap-around outpatient treatment for the more stable. - in cities, build dense, massive public housing for all (not only for the poor) to flood the market with supply and drop prices. Some of these could be rented out on a subsidized basis or provided as welfare, with the rest owner-occupied. The US once subsidized a massive expansion of single-family homes for the middle class. We could do this for affordably-priced condos in big cities, keeping the American tradition of building equity though home ownership. - for those who reject this new social safety net and pose harm to society, turn our prison system from a sick joke into something that actually rehabilitates people for life in the outside world. - Tax big corporations to pay for all of it. Of course, none of this will ever happen in the US, and instead Seattle can remain a city of million dollar homes with meaningless “in this house we believe” signs in the lawn and tent cities down the street that the latest law-and-order mayor can push to another neighborhood every few months.