A Likability Problem: Crime, Drugs, and Homelessness
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A Likability Problem: Crime, Drugs, and Homelessness
As explained in Part I of this analysis, the increasing importance of “likeability” to electability combined with the relatively recent equation of “nice” with “likeability” limits the range of policies that are permitted within domestic policy discussions. Nowhere is this more apparent than within the areas of crime, drugs, and homelessness.
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The intersection of these, and the related issue of mental illness, is complicated. Crime is likely the only one that often stands apart, but all four negatively affect both individuals and society in general. The failure of progressives to adequately deal with these issues makes them ripe for a conservative approach. The left’s reliance on “nice” has resulted in a combination of leniency and slogans which have included:
The left’s approach to homelessness can best be described as benign neglect. In Vancouver, where I live, efforts to remove homeless encampments from the Downtown East Side met with resistance from activists who present slogans rather than solutions:
“Where will they go?”
“Addiction is a disease”
“Housing is a human right.”
While the first question is a good one and the second may or may not be true, they hardly constitute the basis of a solution. Advocating that society does nothing is not a solution. It is, at best, a policy of benign neglect that enables activists to feel good about themselves while accomplishing nothing, which at worst is a policy that endangers both the homeless and law-abiding citizens.
The only real action from activists has been in the area of marketing. Their PR efforts have successfully rebranded the homeless as “unhoused” and changed the terms of the decriminalization debate from “decriminalizing drugs” to “decriminalizing people who abuse drugs,” clear efforts to manipulate the public through linguistic tricks.
The left’s efforts to deal with the drug issue have also proven to be ineffective. Harm reduction policies advocated by the left in British Columbia, which include supervised injection sites (2003), safe supply (2020), and a continuing expansion of decriminalized drugs have failed to reduce overdoses. And may be making matters worse as there is some indication that drugs from the safe supply program are being sold on the black market.
The failure of harm reduction policies to solve the drug problem would not come as a surprise to its advocates as that was never its intention. In a rare note of honesty, the Canadian Medical Association Journal has admitted that the purpose of decriminalization is “to reduce the stigma of addiction” and “reduce overdoses,” not solve the drug problem. While reducing overdoses should be one goal, the link between drug abuse, homelessness, and crime is not solved by making it easier to abuse drugs.
Evidence that progressive approaches to these issues are failing is becoming apparent on an almost daily basis:
In San Francisco, the reduction of shoplifting from a felony to a misdemeanor has resulted in YouTube videos showing thieves and gangs of thieves emptying store shelves knowing that neither the store guards nor the police will do anything.
The drug abuse and homelessness issues have become so intolerable in San Francisco that there is now an app that citizens can use to report human waste and used needles to the Public Works department.
In Canada, recent high-profile killings in Manitoba and Toronto have cast a light on what many see as a lenient parole process.
While not conclusive, after a long period of decline, violent crime in Canada began to rise in 2015, the year Trudeau’s Liberals first came to power.
While there is no guarantee that a conservative approach to these issues focused on personal responsibility and the prioritization of law-abiding citizens would solve all of these problems, conservatives have three things going for them.
The failure of the left to solve these issues, much less advocate for policies that might solve them, is a clear indication that it is time for conservatives to present alternative approaches.
There is already evidence that in the US, the red-state approach to homelessness is more effective:
The public is tired of the progressive approach to these issues. In Canada, citizens are demanding restrictive bail for violent offenders, more policing, and involuntary treatment programs for drug addicts.
With the 2024 US election approaching and one in Canada likely on the horizon, the time is now for conservatives to make the case for their own approaches to crime, drugs, and homelessness. To be successful in these areas, conservatives must focus on common sense approaches to bail, harsh penalties for violent and repeat offenders, parole policies that prioritize the safety of citizens over offenders, involuntary treatment for drug addicts, institutionalization of those suffering from mental treatment, when it is warranted, and prioritizing the safety of law-abiding citizens. And they must do all this humanely or they risk coming across as heartless.
Author’s Note: Look for the continuation of this policy analysis in my next article
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A Likability Problem: Crime, Drugs, and Homelessness
I have been thinking about this for quite some time. What Jordan Peterson and others have said, and what you illustrate, compassion has been weaponized. I listened to an old interview of Herbert Marcuse and he stated that though women are social constructs, our constructed feminine traits would prove useful in spreading the doctrine of neo-Marxism.