Colby:

Great article, filled with articulate common sense.

Some observations made from north of the border where we often smug Canadians are ignoring the same issues.

The biggest problem: The inane if not obscene inequitable distribution of US and the Western World’s wealth, wherein the 'bungled and botched', as Nietzsche coined them, must pay the price.

Others have responsed to you that good food, housing, medical care and education should be a universal given.

Those, call them 'rulers' or the 'Captains of Industry' or the Psychopaths, those that want to maintain the fact that most are not welcome to the bountiful feast table that is America, let alone be granted entrance to the gated mansions, are willing to put everyone at risk.

And have. And will continue to do so.

Is it any wonder that some are running out to run amok in the streets, acting out a tired adage, 'It's f-ing crazy in here."

So.

For the same 'rulers’, people unfortunately are a long term investment. Decades in fact to get a return.

Where’s the fun and profit in that?

Here’s a primer from the Plains Indigenous people.

"In the Lakota language, the word “Wakanjeja (wah-ky-yeh-jah)” translates in the English language to “Child.”

However, "this word includes the Lakota word “Waka” which means sacred and “yeja (yeah-jah)” which means gift."

Imagine that as a mantra. Children are sacred gifts. To us all.

In Finland, some of the highest paid and most educated people in the country are teachers.

So buck up and build better schools. And pay teachers well enough to attract our brightest to the profession.

And guess what? There are NO PRIVATE SCHOOLS in Finland. Ain't that egalatarian?

Feed children good non-toxic food.

Follow the Japanese model of 'Shinrin-Yoku'* forest bathing' in order that our children understand what being in nature can do for their health and others.

Inculcate civic duty, and care for others to the point that our children can be taught to recognize the sociopaths amongst them, and spot it in those adults who profess to be the caring 'politicians' and then be better able to expose their masters.

Build and maintain psychiatric hospitals for those that need it.

As you say, legalize all drugs with a mind to the fact that alcohol destroys more lives than any opiate epidemic, fentanyl included, and costs us far more in early deaths and hospital/health expenses.

Let the alcohol producers pay for the rehab.

Follow the Portugal model.

To the drug addicted committing crimes and who have been caught: It's rehab and vocational retraining or prison…prisons BTW which are NOT RUN FOR PROFIT.

When you're clean, and therefore SAFE to others, you can once again try to reclaim THE PRIVILEGE and NOT THE RIGHT to live in a civil society.

Pay attention to the fact that 75% of the homeless are male, 70% of the opiate deaths are male, 75% of the suicides are male and that young men still kill themselves at 4 times the rate as young women and have since the 1960’s:

AND THEN recognize that something is not working and bloody well do something about it because if the genders were reversed, then the virtue signalling and calls for action would deafen even the Republicans…well, given their stand on ROE Vs WADE, perhaps not.

Lastly, return the value of critical thinking skills to the divisive fever-pitched nonsensical 'woke' dogma which, as you so eloquently write, is so counterintuitive to bringing about real change because, being virtrue signaling dimwits, they fail to recognize they are merely providing ammunition for the far right.

Thanks for penning the post.

* Shinrin-Yoku:

"Shinrin-Yoku is a Japanese practice that translates as “forest bathing” and encourages the practice of walking slowly in nature, taking the time to find one's breath and center. In an increasingly tech world, even our children are suffering from an extreme deficit of outdoor time."