Winds of Change

The problem with elections is that only folks with egos and/or bank accounts the size of Texas tend to run for office, and only folks with slightly smaller egos and bank accounts (say, the size of Wyoming?) tend to vote. People with vested financial interests and a bloated desire for power tend to get voted into office over-and-over-and-over-again by willing lackeys who share the same interests and want them protected forever and ever, amen. I reckon they just want to button up their bulging vests against the cold, cruel winds of change.

But those winds of change are blowing through Whatcom County right now, and I’ll be darned if I don’t sense a shudder or two among northwest Washington’s ruling elite. Webster’s defines “ruling elite” as “those greed-grubbing power-mongers who seek to pull the wool over citizens’ eyes by 1) assuring them that rampant development is community progress, 2) equating retail sales with economic growth and 3) assuring their subjects that minor details like open space, forests and watersheds are luxury options to be occasionally spared, rather than essentials to be expanded.”

Well, that’s according to my Webster’s, maybe not yours.

So, what must we do to assure that those whose brimming bank accounts and bulging investments get blown out of their seats of power by these autumnal winds of change?

Vote, dammit.

Because, last time I checked, votes still counted for something here in the Fourth Corner, unlike much of Florida and parts of Ohio.

Get to know the candidates as individuals and as politicians. Find out who they are, find out where they stand.

For instance…Which candidates will actually vote to stop further residential development? Not simply to pass a flimsy ordinance here and there, but refuse to allow the building of any further housing complexes of any kind under any circumstances. I know, I know, the real estate lobby will shout, “Only by building more homes can we bring down the cost of housing!” Bovine excrement! More does not mean cheaper, just more money in the pockets of developers.

Fact is, all the current overpriced homes are being bought up by rich retirees from elsewhere, absentee landlords and middle class dual-worker families who are in debt up to their eyeballs and will be in for one hell of a rude awakening when a) interest rates continue to climb, b) they lose income due to medical or personal difficulties or c) they attempt to re-mortgage or sell their home only to be confronted by avaricious lenders and wary buyers.

When candidates talk about “affordable housing,” what do they mean? Chances are, if they’re supported by real estate, construction or banking dollars, they mean, “building till the cows have no place to come home to.” This will drive up prices even further, not bring them down. I just heard a radio commercial for tiny Tinkertoy condos, narrated by Mike Kent, a real estate mogul running for Whatcom County Council. These crackerbox palaces were trumpeted as “affordable housing,” coming in at slightly less than $200,000. It’s only gonna get worse, kids, if we continue to vote for pigs who belly up to the trough of public and private indebtedness, filled by slop from swollen-stomached speculators.

Which candidates will actually vote to stop the building of more retail outlets? It’s not enough simply to attempt to confine retail to certain areas. Fact is, we don’t need any more retail shops. A retail economy is subject to whims too numerous to mention, and will never provide family-wage jobs with family-based benefits.

What are “family-wage” jobs? Back in the day, they steamed from mills, mining, manufacturing. But now, in our neck of the woods, we have access to cleaner high-paying, benefit-enhanced industries: information technology, high-tech research and development, entertainment and even (stop cringing, my fellow Greens) shipping. Which brings us to…

Which candidates will actually vote to protect our environment and water supply? Chances are, those whose ample vests are lined by lending, construction and sales dollars will care a whole lot more about where their next commission is coming from than where your kids or grandkids will grow up.

What constitutes “protection?” Not just a mini-park here or buffer zone there in order to accommodate yet another condo complex or strip mall. When fat-cat politicians start wind-bagging about “quality of life,” it’s theirs they want to preserve with stacks of money, not yours with clean air and water. No, we must place watershed, open spaces and forestlands first on our list of priorities. After the environment, all else is secondary. That’s that.

So don’t be fooled by pro-development shills speaking in catch-phrases like “affordable housing,” “family-wage jobs” and “quality of life.”

Vote for straightforward folks who will STOP runaway development, STOP retail madness and PROTECT the environment.

Honestly, my friends, I’d like to sound more positive notes than stop and protect. But unless we slam on the brakes today, there’s no moving forward to a better tomorrow. Virtually every city and suburb south of here to San Diego is living testament to that fact. Act now. Don’t let it happen here.

A cold, hard wind’s a-gonna blow.

To contact Matthew, to add spice to this casserole, or to order his new book, “Original Recipes” (it’s a “best-of” collection of columns from 1985 to 1995, not, thank heavens, a cookbook!), please write to P.O. Box 28983, Bellingham, WA 98228; or email mdthuney@email.msn.com. You can find “Original Recipes” at Village Books in Bellingham or Pioneer Books in Ferndale.