Record numbers of homeless people occupy the city’s public spaces, despite massive government spending to fight the problem.
Long ago, in an America far, far away, pop singer Perry Como crooned the praises of an expectant Seattle:
"Like a beautiful child, growing up free and wild; Full of hopes and full of fears, full of laughter, full of tears; Full of dreams to last the years in Seattle."
But here in the 21st century, thanks to the Left's long, forced march, those dreams are nightmares full of discarded hypodermic needles, putrid piles of human excrement, and violent, jack-boot thugs.
Christopher F. Rufo writes at the City Journal: "At the same time, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal, the Seattle metro area spends more than $1 billion fighting homelessness every year. That’s nearly $100,000 for every homeless man, woman, and child in King County, yet the crisis seems only to have deepened, with more addiction, more crime, and more tent encampments in residential neighborhoods. By any measure, the city’s efforts are not working."
'Not working.' Rufo lays out a very compelling argument that this is a feature, not a bug: "Using homelessness as a symbol of “capitalism’s moral failure,” the socialists hope to build support for their agenda of rent control, public housing, minimum-wage hikes, and punitive corporate taxation."
It's the pernicious Leftist utopian dream of a government big enough to give you everything you need - but more importantly - a government powerful enough to take away everything you have.
My own past volunteer efforts with uplift.org anectdotally confirm the well-known research about homelessness Rufo uses to expose the Leftist lie of 'capitalism's moral failure.' Most homeless people aren't homeless because of capitalism - good, bad, or ugly. The vast majority are homeless because they're either drug addicts, or mentally ill, or both.
They'll accept the hot soup or clean socks or new tooth brush you bring to where they call home, but refuse to sign up for social services, or go to the shelters because they can't cope with the rules and regulations.
Yet, the Leftists cry for more taxation, more spending, more regulations, and more services persist because Leftists don't like facts. They only make them mad.
And if you disagree, there's a gang of antifa thugs down the block who'll beat the proper group think into your skull.
H/t woodpilereport.com
