A Bandit Gang, Writ Large: Mental Health Action Plan
Download this spoken discourse. (MP3) – Download a PDF version of this article.
By: Shane Radliff
October 1st, 2015
In my Adventures in Illinois Law Series, I wrote extensively on the corruption and (IN)justice inherent in the local county government that has claimed rule over the hapless citizenry within its jurisdiction. I also documented the expansion of government by way of the Mental Health Action Plan, which focus heavily on vice users (otherwise known as drug users).
Within this article, I highlighted the expansion in funding and grants, and also the fact that the majority of mental health funding comes from property taxes. Additionally, the largest mental health facility, Chestnut Health Systems, made off with an exorbitant amount of loot. Let’s examine what I documented back in May 2015:
“There were a couple of short-term goals that they have already “fulfilled”. In 2014, the Bloomington Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) provider Chestnut Health Systems was awarded $500,000 to provide expanded mental health services. Next, the FQHC at the County’s Fairview Campus was expanded to provide more people treatment. Lastly, the State of Illinois Department of Human Services committed an annual $700,000 investment to allow Chestnut to establish an adult mental health crisis and substance abuse detox program for McLean County.
Chestnut Health Systems made out quite well with this one—$1.2 million in 2014, with another $700,000 annually, in addition to the expanded facility at the Fairview Campus.” [Emphasis added]
As a critically thinking, average intelligence human being, I correctly assumed that, “…we can expect taxes to go up in McLean County to help pay for this costly reform.” Although, that can hardly be called a prediction, as any one of the maybe 20 citizens of McLean County that read this bill could easily presume that more funding would be necessary.
Unfortunately I was correct in my assumption, and the cities of Bloomington and Normal increased the extortion to help fund their costly budgets.
On September 9th, the Normal City Council approved a one percent increase in the sales tax, but it would only go into effect if the City of Bloomington approved the same increase, which occurred on September 21st. This increase is expected to generate $9.6 million annually for Bloomington and about $6 million for Normal.
The allocation of this increased extortion revenue is what proves my over four month prediction correct. Normal plans on earmarking 25% for mental health services, and Bloomington is allocating an indeterminate amount for the same purpose. (Author’s note: Citations for those figures can be found in the previously linked Pantagraph articles.)
For those in Bloomington/Normal, you can expect to pay an additional ~$117 a year in sales tax. Although that may seem like awfully limited car-jacking, that’s in addition to all of the other taxes that are stolen, with the threat of force always remaining on the table. And as I mentioned previously, any expansion of government, no matter how “cuddly” or “caring” they make it sound, means even less freedom, more taxation, and a lower quality of life for everyone.
I’m certainly not going to play “Watchdog” and continue attending government functions. It just so happens that the one time I attended a McLean County Board Meeting, an atrocious plan like this one came across and I felt compelled to inform the public; not that they could be distracted from their Coliseum games (sports), Keeping up with the Kardashians, or any other form of mindless entertainment, to take a moment to care about anything of substance. Unlike most of the uninformed, uneducated, statist public, I have witnessed tyranny firsthand and I don’t intend on doing it again.
There are also lessons to be learned when we expand it to the macro level. Simply put, government is government; it doesn’t matter if they claim jurisdiction over a local, county, or federal level. The tactics of force and coercion are used and the same veil of “caring” and “representing” is not just limited to the federal government. If you were to carry out your own political field trips, I would hedge my bets on you witnessing similar tyrannies.
It’s also important to mention that taxes almost never decrease. Bill Cooper made a great point on this subject back in the mid 90’s. I’m going to do my best to paraphrase: you constantly hear the cries of the public for “reduced spending” and “lower taxes”, but once the politicians start “listening” to their constituents, the game begins. The public fights back as a public park or museum is closed, pensions reduced, or any number of other actions. The politicians then respond by keeping the programs and “public spaces” open and the size of government continues to increase, the cycle repeating time and time again.
I was correct in the first of my predictions, albeit an extremely obvious one. I reported on this four months ago and no one paid any attention to it, and I’m not the least bit surprised. If it’s not clear to you yet, Liberty Under Attack is your place for sourced and documented truth, with the only agenda being the pursuit to a voluntary, consensual society; in other words, true freedom.
To paraphrase Murray Rothbard, the State is a gang of thieves, writ large. If you espouse freedom, it’s time to take it to its’ logical conclusion: the eradication of the “myth” of authority, and the abolition of the most dangerous superstition.
