Wow, I was probably nearly a year ago when I was living up in Seattle.

I was sitting in a restaurant for lunch and noticed a man outside pacing around a fairly busy intersection. He was speaking to himself, his pants sagged, and was walking in a defensive posture, as if he was defending himself from the world, a world of his possibly damaged psyche. He held a rod of some sort and twirled it around defensively at imaginary threats, who seemed to be after what few belongings he had on a rollable cart.

Yet even though my defensive senses were raised, I looked at the guy with a bit of sadness.

As I left the restaurant, I crossed eyes with the man, and I saw fear in him. His eyes had the pinkish redness of a crying toddler or that of an adult on the verge of tears – the eyes slightly burning. Maybe he is freaking out over the fact he doesn’t know where his next meal is coming from, where he will sleep, or if his meds might run out? You never know.

This erratic behavior seems to have been a defensive reflex. Maybe he “looks scary” because he has to? He likely was a mentally ill ex-prisoner fighting for survival, but now is basically a homeless man with shellshock roaming the city, fighting whatever demons he has.

Yet, even as he paced around, people walked right past him.

No one is going to call the cops, because people fear that cops might see a mentally-ill black man and treat him like a violent criminal possibly leading to his death. Police in general in the wake of the Summer of 2020 seem to be not doing their jobs as well as they can because of pride, i.e., they want the public who called them out to crawl back to them.

It seems our current times are this odd mix of dialectical (bipolar) tension. The Left is softer on crime, yet way more understanding about the factors that leads to social issues, whereas conservatives are tougher on crime but being tougher on crime doesn’t fix crime, but simply sweeps it away, just for it to reappear later, especially since crime isn’t simply a matter of oversimplified morals (right vs wrong). The conservative approach is to simply to lock up people, evict people, put them on buses to far away states (liberal ones), etc.

But, seeing people simply walk past him and not make much of a fuss, even as the man tried destroying a sign of an ice cream parlor, it made me think of Michel Foucault.

I’m no expert on the guy. Never read him. I’m aware of him. He’s one of those people who was so influential that you sort of gain his knowledge by osmosis since elements of progressive culture, similar to the impact of Herbert Marcuse, was so influential.

One idea that he was notable for writing about was how systems created a clinical gaze towards the mentally ill, whom previously had been a part of the overall community, e.g., the town-square drunkard or babbling homeless guy, but this modernist clinical gaze created inadvertently a new type of oppression, a type of reductionist viewpoint, resulting in mentally ill people not be treated holistically but being attacked by systemic violence that marginalizes their existences (solitary confinement, forced medications, strip searches, showers by hosing, experimentation, shock therapy, lobotomies, sterilization, etc.). Further, Foucault spoke about the prison style known as the panopticon which is a euphemism for the spy and police state.

Foucault seems to have been trying to say is that the mentally ill still have thoughts, even if their thoughts aren’t conventional, and maybe in some strange way, there’s certain levels of wisdom there, similar to how older or more ancient cultures might have looked on a mentally ill person, such as one suffering from what we consider to be schizophrenia today, and figured they were communicating on higher level.

It seems safe to say that Foucault’s then controversial views have made the world a better place by questioning ableism. For example, Greta Thunberg instead of seeing her Aspergers as a crutch, she rather embraced her condition as a superpower, and she shows she can still be a productive member of society who wishes for its well-being.

It seems that cities with progressive policies are today still subconsciously influenced by Foucault’s anti-ableist analysis and are tolerant of the mentally ill in public.

And, sure, let’s say that is all fine. The only issue is that this tolerance is still inhabiting a capitalist system, where I would argue that the capitalist system is making more mentally ill people, so we end up never getting ahead of solutions but always reacting to issues. Since liberals are still related to classical liberalism, it seems that the charity towards the mentally ill gets monetized and absorbed into bureaucracy, more so intent on provide jobs and administration, rather than fixing the underlying problem.

The pressures of working jobs where performance metrics are becoming more and more draconian on the grounds of maximizing profits; a materialist culture designed to emotionally, physically, and even sexually manipulate us into making consumer purchases to maintain our status in hierarchal social systems; the rising cost of living where most of a person’s income goes toward rents thus to entertain themselves they might self-medicate more (the cheaper option) or dissociate into digital fantasy landscapes, and, let’s not forget the postmodern implications of the internet spewing every conspiracy theory, hyper-real depictions of violence, etc.

We need to fund with taxes overnight and/or court-orereded mental health facilities, because A) they provide a place for people to sleep, eat, be safe, etc., and B) mentally ill people aren’t thrown into jails where they can be prey or harmful to others.

As capitalism continues to eat away at every aspect of modern life, commodifying everything in its path, it is no surprise that we in the United States live with crime, homelessness, disparity, mental illness, communicable diseases, police altercations, gentrification, etc., are growing in scope and scale.

The problem is that our society has merged three things which should be separately funded and managed which are prisons/jails/halfway houses/juvenile detention centers, drug rehab centers, and mental health facilities (i.e., formerly called asylums).

The “merging” is likely due to privatization as former government ran institutions were slowly “contracted out” to free-market businesses, where many are public, thus they have a responsibility to maximize shareholder value. The easiest way to maximize profit is of course to cut costs, reduce quality, and merge job specialties, which are argued for with fancy business lingo or phrases such as achieving economies-of-scale, lean management, maximizing shareholder value, reducing redundancy, etc.

The problem is that the scope of prisons, mental health facilities, and drug rehabs are often merged.

Drug addicts are thrown in jail and many become indebted to criminal gangs, and the inability to pay debts might lead people to be physically or sexually assaulted (pimped out, sexual slavery), etc.

This increases risk of contracting communicable diseases, even if no sexual activity is occurring, e.g., being in a bloody fight with another inmate, being stabbed, etc.

Further, mentally ill people might be exploited outright, and even more so if they have drug addictions. The way the system is designed, it creates a toxic ecosystem. Drug addicts fuel the gang activity, and gang activity is often but not always racially segregated, thus increasing risks of riots and radicalizing inmates who will take their hateful ideology to the public to recruit more people, etc. Many gangs require life commitments, so some inmates once released, potentially fearing for their lives or those of their loved ones, help sustain criminal activity on the inside, .e.g, sending money, smuggling drugs, committing violence against enemies or informants, etc.

Former prisoners often state that the guards purposely created racial division, or rather they sustain it. It’s not uncommon to hear stories of guards watching prisoner fighters, betting on fights, setting up informants to be attacked, assisting in criminal activity such as smuggling, turning a blinded eye to sexual assaults, sexually assaulting inmates, etc.

On top of all these factors, many former inmates have hard times finding jobs or places to live, so drug addicts and/or mentally ill people, or people in general who are on hard times, often become homeless, thus causing another problem. Many inmates once released are given a bus ticket and told good luck and find themselves landing at every seedy bus station in every American city.

Since the night is much more dangerous than the daytime, homeless people might sleep and eat in the day, but are on guard duty the entire night, and many turn to drugs to stay awake.

In other words, everything is connected and understanding those connections and giving each step of the process is the only way to truly bring forth systemic reform. For example, when waging war, counties rarely factor in the high costs of taking care of veterans, and many of these veterans find themselves in the cycles I’ve been mentioning.

We need to fund society, i.e., the people’s government, and not simply take tax money and hand it over to contractors who bloat costs, because bad procurement processes/monitoring by auditing agencies doesn’t do good due diligence.

This is where we come further into conflict with capitalism.

State governments pander to corporations so they come to their state by cutting tax rates, and this ends up leading to a race to zero amongst the state governments. This results in “national austerity” placing long-term pressure on residents and workers who cover the load of taxes to fund society because corporations will threaten to leave if not given what they want. Yet, many people vote for these neo-liberal policies out of desperation, but also good propaganda methods by conservatives who decry big government in favor of “personal freedom”, but they fail to mention that the freedom for a corporation is more powerful than the freedom of a person.

Corporations sell this idea of freedom to the working class so corporate personhood can go untouched. It’s that simple.

Sure, your state might get jobs, but you’ll have underfunded public services, which cost more and more to fix if the problems get too out of control, ironically since private businesses fill the void and there’s no to little control over what they charge for services. The jobs promised by the companies might not pan out, with many creating fewer jobs than they promised to community leaders.

Also, it’s a myth that states without taxes are better off. States that can raise capital through taxes have the ability to invest in the public good, i.e., expanding wi-fi access which helps the poor or young search for jobs or obtain online certifications/education. Well-funded infrastructure is simply good for business. States that invest in mental health and drug reform might see improved relations with communities who see that police aren’t just enforcers of a capitalist system, but rather helpers in the community who can help refer people who need help to the right agencies.

Sure, Texas has a powerhouse economy, and no hate to the state objectively, but it also executes more people than any other state, its separate power grid failed during a winter storm, and I really can’t fathom the amount of pollution or cancer causes by the fossil fuels and corporate farming industry.

How much money did Fortune 500s lose due to Texas’ energy grid disaster? Or, how many Fortune 500 companies have decided to stay in California despite the price because California has the government power to try new things, which has resulted in attracting a skilled workforce?

Every state should have some type of income tax to help fund/hedge public services that serve all people regardless of their identity. States need to stand in unity so all states have some type of income tax so corporations can’t pit the states against each other. This state competition for jobs by reducing taxes causes mass migrations, which can have even more of an impact on social issues.

For example, the popular California vs Texas divide.

Many Californians are leaving the state due to lack of housing (building codes, increased material costs, property taxes, home owner associations, zoning laws, short-term rental market – AirBnB, Vrbo, etc. – which takes homes off the market, and foreign nations buying whole neighborhoods for portfolio assets), taxes, fees, overcrowding, lack of blue collar work, forest fires, state universities prioritizing out-of-state students so they can be charged more money with out-of-state tuition rates, etc.

Yet, the issue isn’t that California has an income tax but it might be an issue of the rate they charge, and the issue with Texas is they have no income tax to create the proper nest-eggs, rainy day accounts or emergency funds, thus corners are cut.

A state like Washington State which is traditionally Democratic doesn’t have an income tax, which is more so to appease the conservative elements of the state, while also appeasing big business who have to deal with Washington’s traditionally strong unionist workforce (IBEW, dock workers, aircraft mechanics, teachers, etc.). Yet, in all my travels and having lived all over the United States, I always noticed the West Coast has a strong homeless or vagabond culture, where people often attribute this to the fact that the West Coast the last destination of the Continental United States. However, Washington State like many other states have been privatizing mental health. A former court-ordered mental health facilities called Western State near Lakewood/Steilacoom WA was closed.