‘Look outside. You see the homelessness, people dying in the streets from overdoses, people having psychotic breaks. It’s in shambles. It wasn’t always like this.’
In the 1980s, Switzerland had the largest open drug scene in the whole of Europe. As a schoolboy,
I literally had to walk past drug addicts shooting up heroin in public on my way to school. The parks where these drug addicts stayed looked unimaginably disgusting. The most notorious park, Platzspitz in Zurich, was hell on earth and known throughout Europe only as Needle Park.
Acquisitive crime, street prostitution, HIV and AIDS were skyrocketing!
We were the shame of the western world.
You can google all this - I am not exaggerating a bit!
It is only thanks to the determined, courageous and radical action of a social democratic minister (Ruth Dreifuss) that the drug situation in Switzerland today seems almost like paradise.
How did Ruth Dreifuss manage this?
1. a lot of money
1. a lot of money
1. a lot of money
2. compulsory basic insurance for all
3. distribution of methadone
4. distribution of sterile syringes
5. provision of sheltered houses where drug addicts can "safely" use drugs
6. provision of treatment and drug withdrawal places
7. and only at the very end more repression
The opposition to this policy was huge. The minister was dubbed the biggest drug dealer in Europe - even the UN spoke out against it.
But this policy was effective!
The citizens saw the improvements and gave their approval.
Today, Switzerland's drug situation is almost paradisiacal.
I don't see that the US politicians and the US citizens can muster the necessary courage and vision to tackle the drug/homeless problem.
There are no easy recipes, only very hard work and very high costs.
I don't blame Democrats in Portland for switching to Republicans this time around. Oregon's Democratic politicians have forgotten they were elected not the Woke the World, but to protect the innocent, police the guilty, promote the general welfare, fill potholes, collect the garbage, and handle other nuts-and-bolts issues quietly and well. They did just the opposite: allowing crime, riots, public drug use, cartel takeovers, shitting on public sidewalks, and those endless, lawless, police-will-not-enter encampments. That attitude is so maddening to normal Americans that Oregon Democrats lost the right to re-election.
Even more appalling: being "just normal" would get them easy re-election. In a sane world, no MAGA Republican like Greene, Boebert, or Kari Lake would ever win office---they're too nuts. But Portland's Democratic leadership is even nuttier. What a terrible choice.
Can a Common Sense writer examine the Martin v. Boise ruling, which deemed it "cruel and unusual" to enforce no-camping rules on public lands unless the city can provide immediate shelter? I would like to know more about the nuances of this ruling from a legal perspective--just what a city can and cannot do, and how this ruling might be challenged.
This ruling applies to Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. The Supreme Court refused to consider it, so it stands right now, and clearly has an impact.
Gullibility and passiveness are the main characteristic of citizenry these days. Normal crowd should take fire hoses and wipe out these encampments. Let's authorities to scramble for response. Would they arrest the citizens for restoring the order? Let city government to show their allegiance. Democrat party faithful do not understand - whatever Democrat party candidate promises them is not going to happen. They will be restricted by their own ideology. It will be stalling and maneuvering around the solution to the problem until next election and again until next election. I am far from thinking that Republican will solve the problem decisively and fast, but at least the Republican do not have ideological brake and will try to prove their usefulness
Drazan is only pulling about 40% and a third candidate (Johnson) has 14%. Because Johnson is a Democrat, I would think more of the Johnson votes to migrate to Kotek than Drazen by election day. So I think Drazen is in best position to win - unless big Republican wins in the eastern time zone suppress Democrat turnout in the west. Even if Drazan wins, she will not have a cooperative legislature, so I think the problems will probably just get worse.
I grew up in Portland and loved going downtown. I moved to Eugene (2 hours south) in 2005. Portland is not even recognizable. It is so sad to see such a beautiful city go down the toilet. It is nice and encouraging to see that people are waking up to the failed policies under the current leadership. I really hope that we can turn this around and that people will vote Drazen in to office. We need to shake things up. Voting for democrats will only make Oregon go down hill. I am a registered Democrat and I am fed up with their failed leadership.
The Political Process is about Leadership. The outcomes you see are what leadership wants.
The individual politician has little power. Once they have voted for leadership, their influence diminishes and they are carried on the wave determined by leadership. Leadership determines the committees, the rules, who chair committees, what ideas will become law, and directing the outcome/results leadership wants.
The party out of power is redundant. They get to watch and complain without influence.
This is why you should vote the party and not the individual politician.
The Political Process is about Leadership. The outcomes you see are what leadership wants.
The individual politician has little power. Once they have voted for leadership, their influence diminishes and they are carried on the wave determined by leadership. Leadership determines the committees, the rules, who chair committees, what ideas will become law, and directing the outcome/results leadership wants.
The party out of power is redundant. They get to watch and complain without influence.
This is why you should vote the party and not the individual politician.
I am registered unaffiliated, but have voted D my whole life. I dislike a lot of the anti CRT and trans affirming care legislation created by the GOP, but I understand it's origins and would support it were it crafted more carefully and thoughtfully rather than a knee jerk partisan reaction. I am not sure if I will ever vote R, but I have thought about it more recently.
Thank you Woodhouse. I recently received a group email from Houston rep Dan Crenshaw (eye-patch vet seal) who reports that Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among youth. Don’t quote me, because I have not yet seen the data. I am a retired public health data analyst. Whether it be 2015 migrant crisis in Europe or homelessness and drug policy in USA, policy needs sound structure for function. In blue states and cities, policy is disconnected from responsible structure. Many policies are so lunatic, that no conceivable support structure could be constructed. Then, leaders whether SF Breed or CA Newsom; ignore one personal policy failure to move on to the next policy derived from the same failed school of activist extremist ideology.
I have never seen so many people in public, high on drugs- in my life. I live in SF.
Many in SF say they will kick out incumbents on Election Day. I see more people at the store and around the neighborhood who say they will vote Republican in November. I suspect that many more are closeted.
Failed leadership is one thing. Denying due process [for people and for information], in order to push a politicized activist agenda - is not governance, but profound conflict of interest.
We have to join a party in Australia, and pay annual dues in order to vote for a 'primary' - although that is only as a very local level. And we also have the Alaskan-style preferential voting which opens up a can of worms. AND we have compulsory voting as well.
But as my 26yo son observes, he far prefers to watch the US elections over ours, as the stakes are just so small in Australia.
My uncle (dad's brother) moved to Portland, from WI, to take assume territorial sales of our family's manufacturing business many, many decades ago. He was married and had three children. He found his wife in bed with the yoga instructor leading to divorce #1. Divorce #2 came when his wife could not handle the needs of 2 of 3 of his adult children who were homeless addicts. He spent a million dollars on a PI over many decades to make sure they were alive. One eventually died of an OD at Mount Hood and the other got clean for a couple of years. She had a child in the meantime who is now in foster care because she's back on the streets abusing drugs. My 88 yo uncle sees his granddaughter on weekends and has college money set aside for her. He's in a loving 3rd marriage.
Portland has been devastating to his family over many, many decades. I don't see my cousin ever getting clean now that the drug problem is worse than ever.
Thank you for your fine work on this. It's balanced and objective, just what I look for in articles. Well done!
You must feel the sweat in your eyes!
In the 1980s, Switzerland had the largest open drug scene in the whole of Europe. As a schoolboy,
I literally had to walk past drug addicts shooting up heroin in public on my way to school. The parks where these drug addicts stayed looked unimaginably disgusting. The most notorious park, Platzspitz in Zurich, was hell on earth and known throughout Europe only as Needle Park.
Acquisitive crime, street prostitution, HIV and AIDS were skyrocketing!
We were the shame of the western world.
You can google all this - I am not exaggerating a bit!
It is only thanks to the determined, courageous and radical action of a social democratic minister (Ruth Dreifuss) that the drug situation in Switzerland today seems almost like paradise.
How did Ruth Dreifuss manage this?
1. a lot of money
1. a lot of money
1. a lot of money
2. compulsory basic insurance for all
3. distribution of methadone
4. distribution of sterile syringes
5. provision of sheltered houses where drug addicts can "safely" use drugs
6. provision of treatment and drug withdrawal places
7. and only at the very end more repression
The opposition to this policy was huge. The minister was dubbed the biggest drug dealer in Europe - even the UN spoke out against it.
But this policy was effective!
The citizens saw the improvements and gave their approval.
Today, Switzerland's drug situation is almost paradisiacal.
I don't see that the US politicians and the US citizens can muster the necessary courage and vision to tackle the drug/homeless problem.
There are no easy recipes, only very hard work and very high costs.
Elton John sang it best:
It's gotta take a lot of salvation
What we need are willing hands
You must feel the sweat in your eyes
You must understand salvation
I don't blame Democrats in Portland for switching to Republicans this time around. Oregon's Democratic politicians have forgotten they were elected not the Woke the World, but to protect the innocent, police the guilty, promote the general welfare, fill potholes, collect the garbage, and handle other nuts-and-bolts issues quietly and well. They did just the opposite: allowing crime, riots, public drug use, cartel takeovers, shitting on public sidewalks, and those endless, lawless, police-will-not-enter encampments. That attitude is so maddening to normal Americans that Oregon Democrats lost the right to re-election.
Even more appalling: being "just normal" would get them easy re-election. In a sane world, no MAGA Republican like Greene, Boebert, or Kari Lake would ever win office---they're too nuts. But Portland's Democratic leadership is even nuttier. What a terrible choice.
Can a Common Sense writer examine the Martin v. Boise ruling, which deemed it "cruel and unusual" to enforce no-camping rules on public lands unless the city can provide immediate shelter? I would like to know more about the nuances of this ruling from a legal perspective--just what a city can and cannot do, and how this ruling might be challenged.
This ruling applies to Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. The Supreme Court refused to consider it, so it stands right now, and clearly has an impact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_v._Boise
Just another blue shit hole.
Commonsense could do a thing noting Vancouver B.C. just threw out the leftist woke mayor and council in favor of conservatives.
For canada that is a massive tectonic shift
Gullibility and passiveness are the main characteristic of citizenry these days. Normal crowd should take fire hoses and wipe out these encampments. Let's authorities to scramble for response. Would they arrest the citizens for restoring the order? Let city government to show their allegiance. Democrat party faithful do not understand - whatever Democrat party candidate promises them is not going to happen. They will be restricted by their own ideology. It will be stalling and maneuvering around the solution to the problem until next election and again until next election. I am far from thinking that Republican will solve the problem decisively and fast, but at least the Republican do not have ideological brake and will try to prove their usefulness
Drazan is only pulling about 40% and a third candidate (Johnson) has 14%. Because Johnson is a Democrat, I would think more of the Johnson votes to migrate to Kotek than Drazen by election day. So I think Drazen is in best position to win - unless big Republican wins in the eastern time zone suppress Democrat turnout in the west. Even if Drazan wins, she will not have a cooperative legislature, so I think the problems will probably just get worse.
I grew up in Portland and loved going downtown. I moved to Eugene (2 hours south) in 2005. Portland is not even recognizable. It is so sad to see such a beautiful city go down the toilet. It is nice and encouraging to see that people are waking up to the failed policies under the current leadership. I really hope that we can turn this around and that people will vote Drazen in to office. We need to shake things up. Voting for democrats will only make Oregon go down hill. I am a registered Democrat and I am fed up with their failed leadership.
The Political Process is about Leadership. The outcomes you see are what leadership wants.
The individual politician has little power. Once they have voted for leadership, their influence diminishes and they are carried on the wave determined by leadership. Leadership determines the committees, the rules, who chair committees, what ideas will become law, and directing the outcome/results leadership wants.
The party out of power is redundant. They get to watch and complain without influence.
This is why you should vote the party and not the individual politician.
Think about it.
The Political Process is about Leadership. The outcomes you see are what leadership wants.
The individual politician has little power. Once they have voted for leadership, their influence diminishes and they are carried on the wave determined by leadership. Leadership determines the committees, the rules, who chair committees, what ideas will become law, and directing the outcome/results leadership wants.
The party out of power is redundant. They get to watch and complain without influence.
This is why you should vote the party and not the individual politician.
Think about it.
I am registered unaffiliated, but have voted D my whole life. I dislike a lot of the anti CRT and trans affirming care legislation created by the GOP, but I understand it's origins and would support it were it crafted more carefully and thoughtfully rather than a knee jerk partisan reaction. I am not sure if I will ever vote R, but I have thought about it more recently.
FYI: (Just skimmed) https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-media-trains-journalists-lie-leighton-woodhouse
Law and Order
Thank you Woodhouse. I recently received a group email from Houston rep Dan Crenshaw (eye-patch vet seal) who reports that Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among youth. Don’t quote me, because I have not yet seen the data. I am a retired public health data analyst. Whether it be 2015 migrant crisis in Europe or homelessness and drug policy in USA, policy needs sound structure for function. In blue states and cities, policy is disconnected from responsible structure. Many policies are so lunatic, that no conceivable support structure could be constructed. Then, leaders whether SF Breed or CA Newsom; ignore one personal policy failure to move on to the next policy derived from the same failed school of activist extremist ideology.
I have never seen so many people in public, high on drugs- in my life. I live in SF.
Many in SF say they will kick out incumbents on Election Day. I see more people at the store and around the neighborhood who say they will vote Republican in November. I suspect that many more are closeted.
Failed leadership is one thing. Denying due process [for people and for information], in order to push a politicized activist agenda - is not governance, but profound conflict of interest.
Thanks for the helpful response, Naomi and Rfh.
We have to join a party in Australia, and pay annual dues in order to vote for a 'primary' - although that is only as a very local level. And we also have the Alaskan-style preferential voting which opens up a can of worms. AND we have compulsory voting as well.
But as my 26yo son observes, he far prefers to watch the US elections over ours, as the stakes are just so small in Australia.
My uncle (dad's brother) moved to Portland, from WI, to take assume territorial sales of our family's manufacturing business many, many decades ago. He was married and had three children. He found his wife in bed with the yoga instructor leading to divorce #1. Divorce #2 came when his wife could not handle the needs of 2 of 3 of his adult children who were homeless addicts. He spent a million dollars on a PI over many decades to make sure they were alive. One eventually died of an OD at Mount Hood and the other got clean for a couple of years. She had a child in the meantime who is now in foster care because she's back on the streets abusing drugs. My 88 yo uncle sees his granddaughter on weekends and has college money set aside for her. He's in a loving 3rd marriage.
Portland has been devastating to his family over many, many decades. I don't see my cousin ever getting clean now that the drug problem is worse than ever.