How Progressive Policies Destroyed U.S. Cities | Michael Shellenberger | POLITICS | Rubin Report

Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks to Michael Shellenberger about his new book “San Fransicko”, why he left the Democratic Party, how progressive cities made things much worse for the most vulnerable, the real reason that progressives defend petty theft, and why the modern day left has turned its back on the once embraced Viktor Frankl. First, Michael shares why he left the left and is no longer a Democrat. He describes how in the course of writing about the failures of progressive policies he realized he didn’t feel comfortable with the Democratic label any more. Next, Michael talks about how the policies of liberal cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Portland have actually made the problems they tried to fix much worse. The growth of homeless encampments, open air drug markets, mental illness and drug addiction have all been enabled by the policies meant to address them. The homeless crisis has only grown in size in these cities in areas like Venice Beach, the Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia, skid row, the Blade and the Tenderloin. Michael explains how California’s housing first policy has backfired no matter how much money the state directs toward supportive housing and mental illness. Michael also describes how policies like decriminalizing shoplifting simply incentivize misdemeanor theft. He explains how the true roots of this effort to justify theft come from socialist and anarchists in the past who simply hated capitalism. Michael also shares how his appearance on conservative programs has threatened his relationships with progressive friends. Finally, Michael discusses the dangers of embracing a victimhood mentality. He explains how concentration camp survivor and author of “Man’s Search for Meaning” Viktor Frankl was embraced by liberals. Now his message of taking responsibility for your life and facing adversity has been replaced by the pushing of a victim mindset.

Watch Dave Rubin’s PREVIOUS INTERVIEW with MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER here:

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All art on the set are original works by Caylin Rose Janet.

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Michael Shellenberger
Author, San Fran-sicko

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[RubinReport]

Watch Dave Rubin’s PREVIOUS INTERVIEW with MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER here:

[wendyjames]

I was homeless at one Very grateful to be as blessed as I am these days

[mikefranklin]

I'd be thrilled to let people vote with their feet and separate Progressives and Conservatives into their prospective states. Trouble is, the Progressives leave their failed utopian enclaves and infect Conservative states.

[tinachristie]

One of the biggest ways we lose the war of ideas is that progressives are great at changing the definitions of words and using words that sound benign to describe situations that have completely deteriorated. We would gain a lot just by replacing euphemisms with accurate terms. Open encampment = open drug us; free = tax payer funded; Kudos to you both for using words correctly. :)

[loisahn]

Progressive policies have NOT made people's lives better.

[FYRFOX]

I’m conservative and miss these COMMON SENSE Democrats. Thanx Dave, for being REAL and your guest too.

[michaelhiggins]

Toward the end of this most excellent conversation they both admit their mental health is better as the departed from the liberal progressive beliefs.

[EMO_alpha]

Shellenberger and James Lindsey are puttin in SERIOUS work.

[druoleary]

I’m a retired psychologist. I began my career in the Reagan administration at a very large Mental Health Hospital. There were different levels of care depending on the patient’s ability to self-care. At the highest level chronically ill but high functioning patients lived in a dorm, they had transport to go to work. They came and went as they wished, maintained a bank account, when on trips to the ballgame, the zoo, had picnics etc. Acutely psychotic people were on locked wards until they were mentally AND physically stable. Then, the lawyers started to appear (yes, we had a courtroom and a cafeteria for patients). The lawyers had one way conversations with inpatients and got judges to release them because they weren’t a harm to anyone. Where did they go then? Residential treatment homes in gang riddled neighborhoods, now most are in jail. Every week there was a hit piece in the paper about the horrors of the nuthouse, but no real solutions. And here we are.

[Ms.GreenJeans]

I was a lifelong Dem for decades, they left ME! GOP moderates need to exist, it's a HUGE voter base, I'm a moderate GOP!

[TheHarrie]

As a Dutchman, I disagree that we've got things together. There's a lot of problems with our social systems. They've become too expensive and complex. There's a huge housing problem, gas and utility costs are through the roof and our poverty levels have risen substantially in the last ten years

Not to mention that our political system has been corrupted to the point that there are no checks and balances anymore.

[poppavein]

So much money for the homeless is going to 6 figure salaries of government workers.

[russellperry]

I had no idea until a friend with an addicted child told me that rehab aimed at drug addiction can cost up to $60, 000 per MONTH. It’s no wonder there’s no concerted effort to fix the issue - treatment is making people rich, just like locking up criminals at $90k per year, or prescribing COVID boosters for everyone in perpetuity.

[peripheralinkling]

Conversations like this make me feel like the good guys are winning. Thanks to both Dave and Mike for this.

[jancoyote]

Fascinating epiphany! The scales are being removed from our brethren's eyes.

[clarissa]

There’s a city in Texas that let the private sector take over the homeless issue, and it worked really well. I don’t remember exactly what they did lol, but my point is to get the government out of it. Government ruins everything it touches.

[carolyndutton]

He's right about the problem, wrong about the solution...he is still advocating government solutions and the LAST thing I want is government taking over psychological counseling as a rule.

[markholle]

His analysis of “victimology” is spot on. We have to challenge what the unintended consequences of that mindset are.

[leytonpierce]

It's refreshing to see reasonable people who see through/are sick of all of the nonsense speak up and say, "Look, we don't have to agree on everything to come together and fight this insanity." And we're seeing people wake up more and more.

[sarahjane]

Unfortunately Michael is correct about Californian and covid. People are neurotic here, and a lot of them didn’t like children or strangers anyway. These are people who want germy kids staying mostly at home, remote work, face masks, sanitize everything. Depressing as hell for people like me. 😞