HULK SMASH Not Actually Effective Solution to Civic Issues

What’s the next logical step for a country that’s just slashed SNAP benefits during a period of high, sorta-becoming-permanent unemployment, and plans to cut even more benefits in the near future? The War on the Hungry must move the ball down the field. What can be done to the poor to make them learn some personal responsibility?

How about smashing homeless peoples’ shopping carts with sledgehammers? Sure, why not. From the Huffington Post:

HONOLULU—Watch out, Hawaii. Waikiki has a new vigilante on the loose.

Armed with a sledgehammer and a self-righteous mission, State Rep. Tom Brower (D.) walks his district’s streets and parks looking for the nefarious shopping carts used by homeless people.

If the carts have a store’s insignia still on them, Brower gallantly returns them to the rightful owner. If, however, he can’t tell where the carts originated from, he pulls out his trusty sledgehammer.

“If I see shopping carts that I can’t identify,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “I will destroy them so they can’t be pushed on the streets.”

So. Homelessness is a problem in Hawaii! And so far, the state’s solutions appear to be either (a) have this guy go around smashing their shit with a sledgehammer or (b) fly them away. As Think Progress writes, “[Hawaii’s] got the highest rate of homelessness in the country, but rather than build more shelters or offer more services for the poor, lawmakers approved $100,000 over the next two years to offer one-way flights off the islands to any of the state’s estimated 17,000 homeless persons.”

Brower claims he’s been doing this sledgehammer stunt because he’s fed up with legislative inaction over the homelessness problem. (Is this “fly them away” thing not working?) Fair enough; when the government doesn’t do something you want, violent vigilante action is a perfectly reasonable response.

He also likes to hassle homeless people, not just by destroying their shopping carts, but also when he sees them being all homelessy during the daytime. “If someone is sleeping at night on the bus stop, I don’t do anything,” he says. What a mensch. “But if they are sleeping during the day, I’ll walk up and say, ‘Get your ass moving.'”

Whittle it down, though, and what we have is just another instance of a male politician on a testosterone bender. “When you are walking down the sidewalk with a sledgehammer, people get out of your way.”

It’s funny how he thinks this is in any way excusable.

(Brower has since stopped his campaign due to all the attention, but says, “I’m not trying to attack the homeless. I’m trying to attack the issue of cleanliness, but some people interpreted as an attack on the homeless.” So hard to believe his actions were misinterpreted!)