Democrats Aren’t Doing Enough to Address America’s Mental Health Crisis
The United States has been locked in a mental health crisis over the past year, one exacerbated by the miserable material conditions faced by millions. Democratic leaders should promise easement from that sense of dread through redistributive policies, connecting our mental well-being to our material well-being.
Americans’ assessment of their own mental health is at its lowest point in decades. (Getty Images)
In October, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer took to Twitter to share the story of a veteran in Rochester, New York, who couldn’t pay his mortgage after his enhanced unemployment benefits expired and took his own life.
Here was Schumer’s opportunity to speak to the cascading series of policy failures that led to a veteran not being able to pay his mortgage during the worst viral outbreak of the modern era. But, in true Democratic Party fashion, he missed the glaringly obvious, calling not for the cancellation of rent and mortgage payments, or monthly survival checks, but instead a grant program for hospitals to better monitor those at risk of self-harm.
This doesn’t stray far from recent interventions proposed by other congressional leaders. Senator Kyrsten Sinema directed veterans to download the COVID Coach app, a self-care app that provides coping tools for those struggling during the pandemic. Her Senate counterpart, Mark Kelly, referred people to a Red Cross workshop designed to “to build resilience and coping skills.”
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