A rant.
Do (P)regressives know, or care, about the negative consequences of their actions? I doubt it. As a group, they are so certain of their righteousness any self examination or doubt seems beyond them.
This is very personal with me as a parent. My oldest son, who will be fifty Sunday, is autistic. He has lived in the Seattle area since early childhood. We relocated from Utah because there was a program in Seattle that would work for him and I had a decent job offer there.
Last night I received this email.
Someone living at Keystone assault a staff this morning and
the police didn't come when the staff had called the police and the guy at
Keystone had got away with it and the police had been around Keystone and I had
not been seeing the police in my neighborhood lately and last night when I had
took a walk a lady had harass me and those days the Seattle police don't care
and Seattle is getting more dangerous And might be another Detroit
I get similar emails frequently.
So far his neighborhood, Wallingford, has been fairly peaceful. It is north of the insanity and across Lake Union from the city center and Capitol Hill. “Keystone” is a facility that houses, in different wings, the mentally ill, domestic violence victims, and mentally challenged people like my son. It is a volatile mix though mainly peaceful. That said, they often need police service.
Keystone once had a cafeteria to serve the residents and my son worked in it for years. When Seattle (P)regressives got the minimum wage raised to $16 an hour, the cafeteria was closed leaving the residents to fend for themselves. My son has access to a small kitchen but must keep his food under lock in his room.
COVID-19 restrictions has hit the mentally challenged even harder. The public library remains closed. The failing transit system monthly bus pass is now around $36 a month. Church service and twelve step programs, both central to my son’s life, were suspended and now operate in a restricted manner. The Puyallup Fair, an annual event he enjoys immensely, cancelled. He worries he won’t be able to take Amtrak to Portland Christmas to see relatives.
Over the years I’ve helped him, very limited help, because I want him functioning on his own. I’ve never became his guardian; he is legally his own person in charge of his own life. Tough love? He has a smart phone I pay for and a computer he somehow acquired (and a girlfriend).
The events and social systems that led to Hitler’s rise to power are similar, in too many ways, to current events in our country. What is lacking is a charismatic figure. Kamala Harris?
Anyone who reads even a little about pre WWII Germany knows what happened to the “mentally defective” and other powerless people. I’m convinced many of today’s (P)regressives will be all in favor of similar programs in our country. YMMV
Seattle has a long history of radicalism and exploitation. Geography plays a part as does being a port city. In that regard, it isn’t too different from port cities around the world.
I lived in the area for eighteen years and enjoyed my time there. If it weren’t for the political climate (rain doesn’t bother me) it would be high on my COLOEXIT list.
14 comments:
Ah, yes....."Port Cities". They have an entirely different feel than other cities. I lived in Long Beach for 8 years, and San Pedro for 5. I'm glad your son is in a safe environment, and I really feel for him to not have ready access to his 12-Step programs. I've been sober for over 25 years, and if it wasn't for AA, I probably wouldn't be typing this.....
drjim
His 12 step is something other than alcohol. I know AA works for those willing to make it work. I mean "work" as in conscious, applied effort. The car biz, in my day, was heavy with substance and alcohol abuse.
All the other 12-Step programs that I know of have their basis in the 12-Steps first laid out by the AA. As the saying goes, "It Works If You Work It And It Won't If You Don't". It's an attitude and philosophy of staying sober, regardless of what your addiction is.
They can also be good rules to live by for "normies" that don't have substance and/or alcohol abuse problems.
You could always tell what restaurants were having 2-for-1 deals on martinis at noon by all the dealer plates you'd see in the lots!
Dammit, those least able are often the ones 'forgotten' by the pols in their haste to 'do the right thing' (whatever that may be)...
drjim
Ouch, but true. When we were doing offsite sales, things got "interesting". A door ripped of a bar in Craig. A call from the CO State Patrol at 1 am about our motor home driving with a slide extended. Ah, the stories!
OldNFO
Sadly, true!
I've never been there and probably won't. Sorry your son's caught up in it. And what a ferocious load of leftist posturing which, as always, ends up hurting the people it's supposed to protect.
In the meanwhile, good luck policing a city without any cops.
LSP
I worry all the time. Teaching him self defense is futile as his reactions are so slow. About the best I've been able to do with him is have him carry a whistle.
My sister, still in her 50's, is the administrator of the Shriner's Hospital in Portland. She doesn't have the challenges that your husband has but living in a progressive paradise is weighing on her. She loves her job, but Portland looks like war zone and it's not safe. Her husband is retired Portland PD, so they're both armed to the teeth, but even so.
I think that my point is that there are a lot of people in these Democrat hell holes who are hanging on by their fingernails. Would your son be better off living closer to you where you could keep a closer eye on things?
Herbert Stein famously said "if something can't go on, it won't." The foolishness on the west coast in general will eventually end, since those kind of politics are unsustainable. To defund the police? What on earth do these nutbags think will happen when the police are gone?
Nothing good. Duh.
LL
Relocating my son is something I think about, a lot. One major problem mentally challenged people face is social contact, making friends, being part of a community. He has those things where he lives and I'm not certain he could start all over in a new area. There is also the question of my mortality.
Portland. I have an aunt and several cousins there. Some are small business owners. Others involved with shipping. They just continue their lives with increased situational awareness.
What is needed is a water tunnel under the Cascades diverting the Columbia River into Puget Sound and making Portland an inland city (old Seattle joke).
Fredd
New fires in and near Boulder has destroyed at least 26 homes and forced evacuations of hundreds. Where these fires are burning isn't where poor people live.
Sometimes I think I have problems.
I don't, really.
God be with you WSF.
GB
It isn't a one way street. Because of my son, my then wife and I got involved in areas we never contemplated and met people we would never have known. Lemons=lemonade. The WA State Educations for All legislation was drafted on our dining room table by a group of determined women. Karen lobbied for three years to get it passed, and succeeded. She didn't get the credit, and didn't care. We jointly helped form a chapter of a national organization and served as officers. The contacts made doing this rubbed off on my business activities and helped me professionally. Down side was the distraction from dealing with our marital issues and we divorced after 26 years.
I learned to separate the "if only" from the "what is". That leads down a path of hard nosed decisions that seep into all areas of your life. Is that good or bad? Damned if I know.
One thing I've noticed, and I'm not very smart, is that "what is" seen in a bad light turns the "what was" into "if only" (regret) and all becomes bad. We must avoid that like the plague, it's hellish. And so much easier to say than do. That in mind, I feel your separation is for the good. We live, or try to, in the present. It's real, hardnosed if you like, and not bad for that.
But you'll forgive me for rambling, prayers for your son.
LSP
Thank you for the prayers. In your calling you see it all.
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