Jerod Kratzer: Disregarding the vulnerable

It seems irrational, but perhaps predictable, that the North Carolina legislature is so drastically reducing mental health funding when the need for increased funding and more effective programming are so evident.

Too often the newspaper contains a story about a mentally ill person assaulting a senior in a resident facility because North Carolina does not provide an appropriate facility for the mentally ill.

Similarly using our jails and prisons as the “appropriate placement” for the mentally ill would make Dorothea Dix think that today’s legislators are not as forward-thinking as their mid-19th century counterparts.

As David Brooks noted in his Oct. 14 column “The incompetence caucus,” today’s self-proclaimed conservatives are mindlessly disregarding the major tenets of conservatism, which include a pragmatic concern for the overall health of the community. To disregard the health and safety of some of the most vulnerable members of our society is irresponsible and indeed morally unacceptable behavior by a state institution that claims, quite often, to be part of a Christian culture.

Perhaps our current legislators need to do their homework: Read both the Bible and Dorothea Dix.

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Jerod Kratzer: Disregarding the vulnerable."