> Many liberals blame Ronald Reagan for the government’s abandonment of mentally ill Americans. Thats a fascinating stretch of the truth. Most sociologists, p

> Many liberals blame Ronald Reagan for the government’s abandonment of mentally ill Americans. Thats a fascinating stretch of the truth. Most sociologists, public health professionals, and public policy researchers can directly link "Reagans army" to the mans policies quantitatively. its less of a blame game and more of a fact of life the thatcher/reagan neoliberalist push essentially relegated the mentally ill to freeway underpasses and drug store parking lots. Those that didnt wind up screaming at stop signs or dancing nude through the streets instead have gone on to commit some of American societies most horrific mass shootings. > Many administrations in California have had opportunities to reverse Reagan in '67 sure, but by 1981 his federal cessation of funding for ANY state mental health services would have made the effort near Sisyphean. Alex Barnard doesnt do much to shore up the Gippers legacy outside of the prescriptive myopia that we should ignore the past and just look to the future now because $add_reason_later. Treat mental illness just like real illness and stop pretending its some special category of sorta-problem we cant do anything about because, surprise, we havent invested any money into its research, treatment, or cure since Dutch decided to gut funding 41 years ago before slipping into Dementia himself.