Competency Hearings

I thought the Communist Bloc had fallen. I thought the locking up of dissidents, nonconformists and the like in cruel mental hospitals, with straps, straitjackets, non-consenting surgery, forced drug use, and worse, no matter how much or how loud you talk, nobody will acknowledge you except maybe with taunts--I thought it all fell with the Berlin Wall.

Not having done a Rip Van Winkle, I didn’t really think such practices were confined to the Communist Bloc. I know that the cruel 72-hour hold has been turned into the Draconian two-week hold. And I know that our institutions do a lot of the same things the Soviets did.

I object to the infringements on the God-given rights of these involuntary patients. If they have not committed a crime, they should go free. A person who is found ill or injured on the street should be offered help. One will be much more inclined to accept or seek help if one knows his or her civil rights are protected.

There is something wrong with a society that has brutal laws against citizens taking drugs but forcibly captures these citizens and forces drugs down their throats. What is wrong is that the system is set up in such a way that the state ultimately owns the citizen.

There is only one political party that is serious about a free society and would abolish involuntary mental hospitalization and treatment: the Libertarian Party. Our presidential candidate, Andre Marrou, will be in the area Sept. 10-12. Interested persons should call (800) 637-1776.

ALICE LILLIE

Los Angeles