We are closing mental institutions all over this country. Alabama is down to one for the criminally insane only. They are now walking and living among us...
True, but unfortunately very few people know why this trend
of closing mental institutions has been going on. Most Americans
assume that it is solely because of money shortages. Although
that is a factor it is a small one as the closures began several
decades ago.
If one researches the matter they will discover that the main reason
for closures and reductions of mental institutions in the U.S. is the result of the liberal "progressive" agenda/culture war. Specifically, beginnning in the 1960s and 70s liberals began to argue that mental hospitals were cruel and demeaning to people and an afront to their self esteem and dignity. They therefore fought a several decades long political battle to close and decrease the number of such instituions and the number of commitments.
Now, as Simpleman points out, they are out and about in the general populaiton of people just waiting to snap.
Another reality that adds to this problem is our American principles of privacy and letting other people live their lives the way they want to which has led to people not reporting people who are totally nut jobs to the authorities - like the man from Midland City, the Aurora theater shooter, the Virginia Tech shooter, the Arizona shooter, etc. ad nauseum. Not to mention all the nut jobs doing serioal killings, holding girls and women hostage for years, ...People need to be more aggressive, proactive and vigilant.