Yes they should try it in san francisco maybe there'd be less hobos and you could use the public spaces occasionally.
I used to be super libertarian but Ive come to realize that this only works if you, the one availing yourself of liberty, are the one that bears the consequences of your bad decisions. Increasingly, it seems, you do not. The dumber and more anti-social you act, the more victim status you are awarded with as the left half of our polity trips all over themselves rushing to make excuses for you.
And then all the people who'd just like to sit in a park while also not being menaced by drug addicts are told to shut up.
No thanks. We, as a society, cannot handle the liberties we already have.
> Thank God none of this currently happens with drugs being illegal.
This has nothing to do with the vast range of laws we have in the books. It's a question of complete lack of enforcement.
When defecating in public at a park carries no consequences whatsoever, do you really have a law that makes that illegal?
Some guy just shot and killed four people in Memphis. Google it. The man was arrested in 2020 for "attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, using a firearm to commit a dangerous felony and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon". It took until April of 2021 to convict him to three years. He was released 11 months later.
As the Mayor put it, four people would be alive today and, my addition, a number of others would not be wounded in the hospital, if this person --who is and was an obvious danger to society-- had been where he belonged, in prison.
Laws mean nothing when they are not enforced.
Another tragic example is what has been happening at the US border since the new administration took office. It's a mess. It's criminal, but nobody is enforcing the laws. So much fentanyl and other drugs is coming in that I am sure we have lost control. In my town alone I think we've had over 300 deaths so far this year due to fentanyl.
We have laws. Things are illegal. And yet, you can't sit at the park with your kids to enjoy a nice sunny afternoon because the laws mean nothing when the people we elect to look after society choose not to enforce them.
This is not a formula for a society that trends towards better outcomes. It's crazy. You have people who have never even thought about owning guns asking about gun ownership and buying firearms because they no longer feel safe.
Not to go too far. Over a year ago, I caught and arrested a guy who broke into my neighbor's home across the street. The guy probably caused over $10K in damage to the home entering, destroying the security system and breaking through the door from the garage into the home. This guy, we came to find out, had a prior record in another state. We finally went to the hearing last week. It took almost a year. I don't think the guy did more than 30 days in jail. What did the DA's office, led by George Gascon (I can only describe him as demented and, yes, with history in San Francisco) do? They let the guy go. He is supposed to enroll in some kind of a counseling program. Brilliant. I hope he doesn't kill anyone when he returns to crime.
I don't have a strong opinion, but there's a difference between "making drugs illegal solves all problems" and "making drugs illegal minimizes drug use".
I'm not well-versed in political... philosophy!? but for the sake of the argument: perhaps SF didn't fully embrace libertarian ideals? "you can do what you want, but you must not impose on others" sounds fair. you can take any drugs you want, but if you shit in the street - you suffer consequences. Pose danger to others - you suffer consequences. etc. That's not what I'm seeing happening in SF.
I used to be super libertarian but Ive come to realize that this only works if you, the one availing yourself of liberty, are the one that bears the consequences of your bad decisions. Increasingly, it seems, you do not. The dumber and more anti-social you act, the more victim status you are awarded with as the left half of our polity trips all over themselves rushing to make excuses for you.
And then all the people who'd just like to sit in a park while also not being menaced by drug addicts are told to shut up.
No thanks. We, as a society, cannot handle the liberties we already have.