can commit such violent acts rather than be helped by professionals joining me to discuss it is harry shearer political satire as an author harry thanks so much for joining us my pleasure thank you yourself asked this question why there are so many mentally ill amongst us so give us the answer. well this comes from my experience in my tree comedy days i worked for a little while at the california state legislature and in those days california as most states and if not all states in this country had a system for dealing with mentally ill mentally disturbed people they were state mental hospitals. and you could be either you could commit yourself momentarily or you could be involuntarily committed by your relatives or or authorities for a an examination period and and possibly for a longer period of time treatment period i know because i had to help a constituent to get some relative who had been improperly and in voluntarily committed out of these hospitals they were called snake pits they were derided as uncaring institutions and so a bipartisan there's that word coalition of republicans cali