How Corruption Wins

The time from liberal "reform" to corruption of that "reform" gets shorter

It always starts as a good idea. But every liberal idea has been subverted, beginning with the ideas of a woman named Dorothy Dix.

She¹ crusaded through most of the 19th century, visiting places that housed the “insane poor.” She said “this could happen to anyone,” and “but for the Grace of God… (it might have been me).” Subsequently, many reforms were enacted. Even during Dorothea Dix’s own lifetime, however, the ideas were subverted.

And you want to know how. Well if you go to the present version of the psychology Today magazine website in the footnote below, you will see green T-shirts or sweatshirts with the words F*ck and Sh*t on them. That give you a hint that this is a war between corruption and virtue. They could not post an article about a mental health crusader without the contrary ads next to it. The ads got placed.

And, slowly (or maybe not that slowly) the contrary ads win. There is money in the green T-shirts. Never mind the nasty words. They are paying customers. But I find the Psych T-day article to be a bit short. But from reading done earlier in my life, I learned that Dix was a good person. An she had great ideas. It is inspiring to read. She traveled throughout Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana -it seems also other states -visiting various places and once there she would ask about any mentally ill persons or anything like that. Was anyone being held in confinement or care? Sometimes, they declared, “we do not have any such persons here” only to find persons under terrible conditions, like the person in one town was in a chicken coop (or that is what I read). She did her work—persons were very dedicated in those days. After her investigations and her reports, Dix became well-known and new laws were passed and mental institutions opened.

But once again, the new institutions set up under Dix’s influence were within a few years corrupt. (Maybe persons used them to funnel state funds to themselves, for example). It only took a few years. This makes me wonder if this is what happens to all liberal reforms. Are they generally subject to a very short period of success—? ~ after which some corruption once again seeps in. You notice that liberal reforms are still intentional acts. They do not arise naturally. Someone puts it into place. Because of this, there is a mechanism for subverting the reforms. They are specifically put into place and anything that is specifically intended can be specifically intended for another use. e.g. the opposite one. I love my liberals e.g. Dix). But if one person can put into play a liberal reform plan, another person can subvert it. If that is true, then any liberal reform plan may be used in support of the opposite of the original sincere intention.

So that brings us to Wilhelm Reich. He was another nice guy. Very hard-worker. Docotor. Early associate of Freud. Superstar. He visited Russia. So…

So. The biggest “liberal reform plan” of all is socialist revolution. That is going to fix everything. At least I think so. And we know how that worked. Marx did not hurt anybody, but Marx leads to Lenin, who shot 10,000 people and that led to Stalin. Stalin’s “gulags” are reported on by Alexander Solzhenytsn.

So, anyhow, every “revolution” gets taken over by thugs. (Every capitalist company too, b.t.w.) They all start sincerely and are re-purposed after a short time. Wilhelm Reich visited Russia while it was still led by Lenin. Reich was disillusioned, very badly.

While I once supported it, liberal reform in the U. S. now looks to me like a joke. How many “reform” projects were there, from 1945 to 1999? Okay. What got reformed? There were quite a few such programs. None of it went anywhere. With every year the interests of making a quick profit overrode the attempted reforms.

Today, the situation is worse than ever. Enter a social service program and see what happens to you. Anyone who claims to be helping the “mentally ill” is probably psychologically unhealthy and not helping anyone. I actually reported on this in my recent “From the Street” Substack “Section.” (One guy called it a “segment” within Substack which seems to be better language than “Section,” but leave Chris and Hamish to figure that one out.)

Anyway, I was given a yellow booklet by a police officer, It was in a very liberal part of Pinellas County, Florida (Gulfport). I decided to try a legal route, due to my high regard for lawyers and the law. I picked a downtown law office from the yellow book that I had been given. I found out that I am too old and weak to live outside now. And I am not sure it is such a good idea in general these days. I still do it for one or two nights in a row. So I visited the lawyer, who was in the same building as where you get voetr registration and other services but you use a different door. (They directed me to the door, which I thought was nice.) The lawyer visit had certain classic elements. There are standard elements I mean to say. You begin to see how it usually goes. But still you need confirmation. It is hard to believe it. Can this really be happening? Maybe this law office will be okay? Well, hope springs eternal. Someone opens a door. From an interior office comes the friendly voice. “I’ll see him.” Yay. It’s a liberal! The lawyer is by appearances just a regular guy. Kind of like me. He says he does not have housing in that office. The description in the booklet did have something about housing, though. So, I am thinking there might be some help here. The lawyers agrees. He can be a resource. Yay. So, the resource had one place he really recommended. “I have heard great things about this place,” he says. And it turns out to be the lowest trash there is. They told me not to come back. I told the woman I needed help and she laughed in my face. This is when the liberal friends come to the rescue, saying “I am so sorry.” And they send you to another place. And it happens again.

1. a beautiful article about a beautiful woman… https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/catching-homelessness/202002/dorothea-dix-and-the-trade-in-lunacy