We see them out there in the street all the time, the lost, the homeless.

They're not just the alcoholics, the lazy, the out of work or the romantic loner. Many, maybe most, are seriously mentally ill and should be under care. In the 60's and 70's a huge program was undertaken to deinstitutionalize the mentally ill. The aim was to remove them from huge, impersonal state hospitals so that they could be more humanely treated at mental health clinics in their communities.

In 1963 when congress passed the Community Mental Health Centers Act President Kennedy said, "Reliance on the cold mercy of...