When I was 22 in 1969, I moved to California from New York. I had two goals in mind: [1] live in a place where it never snows and [2] live in a city where I would not need to own a car. I have been happily living snow-free and car-free for 53 years.

Along the way, three years into my living here, I did something that I had never even considered: I bought a house. I have been a homeowner ever since. The added ability of living now without a mortgage is very much the icing on the cake for me.

So, yeah, you and others are not wrong about some of the problems that we have here. As I have traveled around the country, though, I have seen homeless people almost everywhere. The greatest problem is geographic to the level that it is endemic of this entire country, especially when compared to Europe: the emphasis on individualism is at the cost of a national approach to doing something as simple as setting up a safety net to care for each other.

The higher taxes that people pay in Europe give everyone the medical care and other services that raise quality of life for the entire population.